One Way Or Another
by D890
Summary: As Nick discovers he's about to become a father, can he face up to the challenges of work and fatherhood and can he save himself before he loses everything as his past comes back to haunt him and his potential family.
1. Chapter 1

One Way Or Another

08/19/2005 Friday Afternoon

Chapter One

Two months… two months since she had gotten the news… Reilly Mallone found herself in her doctor's office for another checkup. Her doctor thought that because of her age the first three months of her pregnancy would be her most critical, so she was seeing the doctor every week for checkups since discovering she was pregnant.

She had told her mother and her grown daughter that she was working on a case or just out running errands to cover the time spent at the checkups. She hadn't told anyone she was pregnant in case she lost the baby. They wouldn't have to worry about all the 'what ifs' this way.

"All right, Reilly. I have the results back from your last visit and it looks like we have a healthy baby here." Her doctor said, happily.

Reilly had had time to get used to the idea of having another baby, especially this late in her life, and she knew without a doubt she would keep her baby. Even if people thought she may be too old to be having another child, she was going to keep this baby; but it still felt kind of surreal when she heard the doctor's words. Her baby was healthy and she was actually going to be bringing another life into this world. She sort of felt dizzy, but she quickly pushed that aside.

"Thank you, doctor." Reilly said, slowly smiling. She _was _happy, she thought. She just didn't know what everyone else would think when she finally told them. Especially Nick.

"I think it would all right to start telling people now. Maybe tell the father?" Her doctor asked, gently. He'd known Reilly for a long time, in fact he was the doctor who had delivered her first child, Sammantha, over twenty years ago. He would be here for this baby too.

"Maybe. _I'm _still getting used to the idea of a baby, I can't even begin to imagine how he's going to react." Reilly began. "But I will tell him; he needs to know." She thanked the kind doctor again and left his office. She started thinking as she got into her SUV; she wanted desperately to be a good mother, but truth be told, she was a lot older than the first time, and that alone worried her the most. Sam, her daughter, was almost twenty-three and she had a daughter of her own now. Reilly was a grandmother, for goodness sake, how could she expect to get through another pregnancy possibly alone again?

She had been much younger then, and Sam's father hadn't really cared as much as he had led everyone to believe, but this time the father was Nick. Nick was different; he was very different from Sam's father and Reilly knew he would be a great dad. He loved Abby, Reilly's granddaughter, but did he want to be a dad? He was younger than Reilly, but still he was settled in his life, maybe he didn't want to be responsible for a child; maybe he didn't want to be burdened.

She knew he loved kids, he had a special place in his heat for children in his line of work, but did he want one all the time; one he would be partly responsible for? Reilly knew Nick had been molested when he was nine and because of that he tended to be more sympathetic than most in his job than others were.

She knew that being a CSI in Las Vegas, that Nick ran into a multitude of crimes committed against children, and he was supposed to try and not become emotionally involved, but not Nick Stokes. Telling Nick to stop caring was like telling him to stop breathing. It wasn't gonna happen. He felt because he could relate to the child of a crime, that made him a better CSI. And Reilly tended to agree with him. He was good, practically the best she'd ever seen in her line of work.

Reilly was a private detective in her hometown in Kansas and she specialized in missing persons, mostly children. It was her job to either find the person alive at best or their remains at worst; so she could give the family members some kind of closure. But Reilly really hated that word 'closure'. It was insufficient to her, because she knew that if her daughter or granddaughter ever went missing and they were found dead, that 'closure' didn't mean a damn thing. Yes maybe she would get answers and maybe the guilty got punished, but it would never be closed. It never ended. Every day she would wake up and face that endless road of life without her loved one and to her that was not closure. That was just fact. Cold hard torturous fact.

Reilly decided she would fly out to Vegas tomorrow morning and see Nick; tell him what was going on. Tell him she was pregnant with is child. He at least deserved the opportunity to state his feelings. She owed him that much; and if he didn't want to be saddled with a child, Reilly would do the right thing and release him from any responsibility. She would miss him, but she would raise her child alone. Well, not alone, she still had her mother and she had Sam and even Abby to help. It wouldn't be as hard as the first time, she knew that now. She'd make it through no matter what happened, one way or another.

She drove home and decided that she need to at least tell someone, so she would tell Sam. Sam would understand and she would keep it quiet until Reilly was ready to tell everyone else. She pulled up in front of her home and thought to herself; here we go.


	2. Chapter 2

08/20-08/21/2005 Late Saturday Evening into early Sunday morning

Chapter Two

Reilly walked into the building of the crime lab in Las Vegas the following evening. This was going to be the most awkward and nerve wracking moment of her life, and that was saying a lot considering her life. It wasn't going to be her proudest moment either. She was going to have to tell the man she was in a relationship with; a man she knew in her heart she loved. She might lose him, because he may not want to stay on this ride with her, but she was going to tell him. She didn't want to lose Nick now when things between them were going so good. However she still needed to tell him. He had a right to know… that he was about to become a father.

"Hey, Reilly, what are you doing here?" Greg Sanders asked, excitedly, as he came around the corner to the main lobby and saw her signing in at the front desk. He had a manila folder in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. The smell kind of played havoc with Reilly's stomach, because Greg loved a little coffee with his cream and sugar.

She smiled trying to hide her discomfort and returned with, "Hey, yourself, Greg. I'm looking for Nick, have you seen him around?"

"He's out on a case; he won't be back here for awhile." Greg said, stopping at the front desk to check on his messages with Judy, the receptionist.

"What do you mean? Is it a bad one?" Reilly asked, a little worried.

"Sara and him have a nasty quadruple homicide out in Henderson." Greg said, smiling. "Family of four looks like a possible home invasion." He knew she was worried about Nick, so he added, "He's fine though, nothing they can't handle. Trust me." He knew Reilly worried a lot about Nick sine his kidnapping. They all did. "I have to get the results from Hodges on my own case, but if I hear from him, I'll have him call you. Are you going to be at his place?" He asked, innocently.

"Um, no, I'm staying at The Sands. I have an appointment Monday morning and a meeting there tomorrow afternoon." She hurriedly explained away the hotel stay. "Tell him to call my cell. I'll be up no matter what time."

"Is this anything major, Reilly?" Greg looked at Reilly with his deep blue soulful eyes. He could tell something wasn't quite right. "You know you can tell me… I'm there for you, too."

Reilly smiled at the young man, "No, Greg, it's fine. Really. I just need to talk to him. Everything's great." She stepped up to the young man and planted a big kiss on his cheek. "You are the sweetest guy I know next to Nick, and if I ever think of dumping him well, be ready, cause I'm gonna be knocking on your door."

The young man blushed at the praise and remarked, "Now that's one time I'll be sure and answer my door!" He waved bye and Reilly, still smiling, turned around and left the building.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at her hotel, Reilly sat with Sam, who had insisted on traveling to Vegas with her, in one of the hotel's restaurants for a late night dinner, when a young woman came up to their table. Both women glanced up, expecting their waitress, and instead Reilly saw the amber eyes of Nick's former girlfriend, Lauren Hall.

"Hello, Reilly. I know it's late, but I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment?" She asked, as she settled herself at the table without waiting for an invitation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick and Sara were sitting in the break room at the lab, when Greg walked in. "Hey, Nick Sara; I didn't know you were back."

"Just got back actually, and waiting on the results from Hodges on our trace." Sara said, as she got up to fill her coffee mug. "I'm about to head out and work on the fingerprints we lifted. Not sure what lazy bones Nick is going to do besides checking out the sports page." She smiled at Nick whose nose was buried deep in the mentioned section of the newspaper and was oblivious to her comment.

"Well, Nick, Reilly stopped by while you were out. Said to tell you to call her." Greg said, as he walked over to the coffee pot for his own refill. He smiled at the fact that Nick hadn't even registered Sara's comment.

"Reilly? She didn't tell me she was coming out. How long ago was this? Is she at home?" Nick asked, looking up from the newspaper and pulling out his cell phone.

"Um, about three hours ago, and no she isn't at home. Said she was staying at The Sands for a couple of meetings she had there. But she said to call her cell anytime, she'd be up waiting."

"Wow. Must be important. She didn't say anything else?" Nick questioned, checking to see if he'd missed any messages on his cell.

Before Greg could answer, Judy came in and said, "Nick? There's someone here waiting for you in the lobby." She smiled at the three as she spoke.

"Thanks, Judy." Nick got up and followed her out, thinking Reilly must have come back. As he rounded the corner into the lobby he was a little surprised to see Sam, Reilly's daughter, there waiting for him instead.

"Sam? Is something wrong-" Nick started, but before he could finish, Sam strode over and slapped him soundly across the face.

"What the Hell?" Sara said from behind them. She and Greg had followed Nick being curious as to what the mystery was.

"Stay away from my mother, Nick Stokes!" And with that Sam turned and strode out of the building.

Nick was rendered speechless as he watched Sam go. Whatever was going on, they had his full attention now. He was going to find out what was going on, one way or another.


	3. Chapter 3

08/21/2005 Early Sunday morning

Chapter Three

Nick clocked out at his designated time and brushed off any concern from Sara and Greg over the earlier incident. He had to find Reilly and find out what the hell was going on. He got in his truck and headed straight for her hotel. It was going to be weird if Sam was with her, but hell he deserved to know what was going on. After the last weekend Reilly and he had shared, he hadn't seen anything like this coming.

Nick was in love with Reilly and he had been starting to think of a more long term relationship, possibly even marriage, if she would listen to him. He'd even been looking at rings, and he'd found the one he wanted. He had it at home in his dresser drawer just waiting for the right time, but now he couldn't help but worry that something was wrong. He knew how Reilly felt about marriage, especially after the hurt she'd endured in her past, and to be honest he'd had his fair share in the hurt department himself.

He still remembered how he'd been hurt by Lauren, almost a year ago now. He'd been ready to just stay a bachelor forever after that until the night fate brought Reilly Mallone into his life. That had been an amazing adventure, then things had gone bad with his kidnapping, and he had wanted nothing else, but to just be back in Reilly's arms. He'd fought to stay alive those awful hours in that box, because he'd only been thinking of getting back to his friends and Reilly. He needed to hold her in his arms, to keep him grounded and remind him just how precious life was.

Now this was happening and he didn't understand what he'd done to deserve Sam's wrath. But he was more worried about Reilly. If Sam was this mad at him, then he could only guess at Reilly's anger.

He handed his keys to the hotel's valet service attendant, and walked inside the hotel straight up to the front desk. He just happened to be friends with Jimmy, the night manager. If he was still on duty, Nick would find out which room Reilly was in. Sometimes being a CSI had its advantages.

Nick was relieved after finding out from Jimmy that Reilly was indeed staying there and that she was booked into two rooms, which hopefully meant that Sam was not sharing a room with her and that Nick might be able to catch Reilly alone. He stepped out of the elevator on the fourteenth floor and headed for her room. He was halfway there when his cell phone rang. He looked down at the caller ID and was surprised to see Lauren's name.

"Hey," Nick answered, stopping in the hallway. "Now is not a good time, Lauren."

"Hey, Nick, I just wanted to call and invite you over. Are you at home?" Lauren asked slightly seductive and catching Nick's attention.

"What? Lauren, we broke up a year ago, and I told you the last time you called, that I was in a relationship with someone else. You have to stop calling me. This has to end. Now." Nick couldn't believe her.

"Oh, I don't know… I heard from a little birdie that your relationship fell apart… and I thought you might need a shoulder to cry on… I guess maybe you just haven't gotten the news yet." With that, she hung up.

Nick looked at his cell like it'd grown a head. What the Hell, he thought. This woman was beginning to worry him. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. _She'd gotten to Reilly or Sam or both. That's why Sam had been so mad at him. _He realized Lauren was trying to break him and Reilly up. He had to get to Reilly. He turned and raced down the hall to the room Jimmy had given him and he knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer.

"Reilly, its Nick." He said; he knew she was in her room. He could feel it. She was looking at him through the peephole and she was hiding behind the door. He grew angry thinking of how childish that was, but he knew it wasn't Reilly's fault. He was going to have a field day with Lauren when he got a hold of her.

"Come on, Reilly. I know you're in there, and I know you're looking at me through the peephole. I can feel you staring at me. Just answer the door, so your neighbors don't come out to watch me as I camp out here at your door, 'cause I'm not leaving till we get whatever's going on sorted out." He said, as he continued knocking away.

He heard the lock click and she opened the door. She didn't look surprised to see him, and Nick realized that she wasn't angry – she looked… hurt. And he could see that she'd been crying. She had been expecting him, he was sure of that, and this only caused his anger with Lauren to intensify.

"Hi, Nick." Reilly said, trying to sound nonchalant about this, but Nick could see through that charade and this only caused him to become more upset with this whole situation. He entered her room ignoring all the other signs that Reilly was silently putting out there for him.

"I need to tell you that whatever Lauren has said to you or Sam that she was lying! You can't believe her for one minute-" He stopped as he turned around to look at Reilly. Really look at her. His eyebrows slanted as he took in the light pallor of her skin and the dark circles under her eyes. "Reilly, are you okay? You look like you don't feel well. I know you're upset, and I'm really sorry and I promise I will be filing a report against Lauren for harassment first thing after I leave here. I swear to you I'm not going to let her bother you. I will deal with her, one way or another." He reached out for her, but Reilly backed away and moved further into the room, away from Nick.

"Reilly?" He tried again. "What's wrong?" He had been ready for one of their classic arguments like they'd had in their early days, when they'd first met and butted heads; he fully expected Reilly to be angry with him about this whole thing, but that's not the way she looked at all. She looked hurt… and afraid. She was afraid of something.

"I'm pregnant." She said, not missing a beat.


	4. Chapter 4

08/21/2005 Same Day

Chapter Four

Nick's face completely fell as he felt the floor open up beneath him. He sank down in the nearest chair and looked at her. This was the last think Nick had expected to hear from Reilly.

"Wha…" He tried to find his voice as he stared blankly at her. Reilly crossed her arms and returned his stare. "You're what?" He asked, in a breathless whisper.

"I'm pregnant." Reilly repeated, quietly, unsure of how Nick was going to take this. The only reason she was so afraid was because she was worried about his reaction. _How would _he take _this news?_ So far he had reacted as she thought he might; shocked. _But when it sank in, then_ _what?_ Reilly could deal with the Lauren situation later, right now; she needed to know how he felt about the baby.

"And…I'm the father." He said, not asking. He knew better than to think anyone else would be. They'd been pretty much inseparable the last few months. He was suddenly sweating and he felt like a vice was squeezing his chest. He felt a panic attack coming on. He reached a shaky hand up and smoothed his hair as he pulled his gaze from hers and focused again on the floor under his feet. _Breath Stokes, _he thought. _Slow even breathes, concentrate._

"Yes." Reilly replied, sitting on the couch near his chair and pulling a throw pillow in her lap and hugging it to her. She looked up and saw Nick smoothing his hair again, nervously.

"God…" Nick breathed as he moved from the chair to sit next to her on the couch. He ran his hands through his hair again. He knew he was the father and that thought, while it did send a tiny shiver of excitement through him, it also brought trepidation. Reilly was older than him with a grown daughter and maybe she didn't want to have another baby at her age.

He looked at her. _Was that the reason she was afraid? Because of being older now? _"Reilly…" He began, but he didn't know how to voice that question to her. He knew she had always held their age difference in the back of her mind. Nick had no problem with it, but he knew how Reilly felt about it.

To Nick, Reilly didn't look forty-three. She was beautiful, he thought as he took in her shining chestnut brown shoulder length hair and her deep green eyes. Yes, she was beautiful. He was still in awe that she was with him.

"Why… why did you know to come here… to my room?" She asked searching for the words. She so didn't want to push him away, but she wanted to know how he knew something was up with herself and with Lauren to come to her room instead of calling her like she'd told Greg to have him do. This situation was tense, but it was also fragile, and she was worried the tension in either of them would break it.

"Sam…" Nick said, touching the bruise on the side of his face. "She came by the lab late last night and kind of gave me a head's up that something was wrong." He smiled weakly.

"She hit you?" Reilly asked, shocked at her daughter. She knew that Sam had been angry when Lauren had told them things, but Reilly thought she had gotten through to her that she believed in Nick, not Lauren. She thought Sam had gone back to her own room afterwards to sleep. Reilly had no idea that Sam had gone to see Nick at the lab. "I'm sorry… I didn't know."

"I figured you didn't. I also got a call a little bit ago from Lauren saying she heard that we had broken up and was wanting me to stop by and see her." Nick replied. He didn't like holding anything back from Reilly. "I basically told her she was nuts and that her and I were over a long time ago."

Reilly didn't know what to say to that. She hadn't like Lauren the one time she had met her, when they had run into her by accident while out to dinner. Reilly knew the woman still longed for Nick. She could see it in her eyes. She'd tried to tell Nick the woman wasn't right, but he had brushed it off saying not to worry and because nothing else had come of it, Reilly had let it go. That is until last night when the woman had invited herself to sit at their table and then proceeded to tell them all kinds of things that she and Nick had been up to for the last couple of months, supposedly behind Reilly's back.

"How far along are you?" Nick asked, leaning forward on his hands and looking at Reilly's stomach. Looking for any clues to her condition.

"Um… almost three months." She said as she watched Nick's eyes go wide.

He realized that would be the first time they'd slept together after… After his kidnapping, right before he had gone back to work. He felt his throat go dry, and his stomach lurched. He hadn't meant for anything to happen, it just had. He had missed her so much during his ordeal, but afterwards she had stayed at arms length due to his injuries, because she hadn't wanted being intimate to worsen them. They had only known each other a short time before, but Nick knew then how important she was to him; when he had thought of her while he had been buried in that box.

But he'd wanted her so badly; that he hadn't even given a thought to protection. He had needed to hold her and feel her as a part of him so that he would know he was alive and not back in that box buried in the ground. _This was his fault, _he thought. He should have been more careful. No wonder she was upset. He had brought all this on himself.

"Oh, my God." Nick said, looking at Reilly's stomach again. He ran his hands through his hair again wanting nothing more than to pull it out. This was his fault and she was paying the price.

Reilly moved closer to him and put her hand on his knee, because she thought he was about to fall apart. He looked like a nervous wreck.

"I'm sorry, Reilly." He said, standing up causing her hand to fall away. Reilly tried to reach out and grab his hand to stop him from moving away, but he side-stepped her reach. "I'm sorry."

"Nick…" Reilly started, standing up too. She didn't want him to leave her. Not now. She needed him. However Nick was moving for the door. He was running. She could practically see his mind racing. She had been with Nick long enough to know when he was about to have a panic attack. He was getting ready to bolt.

"Do… do you.. do you need anything?" He asked, clearing his throat and turning to look at her. She looked so sad and he knew it was because he was pulling away, but he didn't know what else to do right now. He had to get out… he had to breath. He wasn't able to pull enough air into his lungs right now and he felt like he was suffocating. He felt like he was back in that box. He was responsible for this… all of this… and it was all his fault. Everything he touched went bad. He ruined everything.

"No." She whispered, softly, sadly. She could see the fear in his eyes and she knew how his mind worked. He was scared and he needed to get some air. She had to let him go for now, because she knew he wouldn't be functional until he could get his head cleared and wrapped around this new situation.

"I'll call you." He said, fearing that he would be swept away and forgotten by Reilly and her family. Even though Nick was as scared as a teenager would be just finding out he had gotten his girlfriend pregnant, he knew he was still obligated and he would do the right thing. There was no way he wouldn't. It wasn't in his upbringing to totally cut and run. He was a good Texas boy and he would do the right thing by Reilly. "Let me know if you need anything." He had to at least for now, get out of here until he could clear his head. He had to find a way to make things right. "I'll call – I promise." He had to fix this.

"Yeah, Nick." She said feeling herself getting emotional and she just wanted to hold him and cry on his shoulder. He was not only her love, but her best friend and he was pulling away. She didn't want to be alone right now, but she could see he needed to come to terms with this on his own. "I'll be staying in town for a few more days." She longed for him to turn around and take her in his arms and hold her close and tell her everything would be all right. That this was something great. She needed him to tell her they'd get through this one way or another.

Nick smiled weakly at her and then he turned and walked out the door. He looked up and saw Sam coming out of her room and into the hallway. She gave Nick a hard look as she was once again engulfed with the anger she had felt earlier towards him. But as she watched him, she realized he was barely holding himself together. He was shaking and he was pale. He looked like… she gasped as she realized he looked like he had when he was recovering from his kidnapping.

Nick's mind was racing and he had so many thoughts going in and out that the last thing he needed was another confrontation with Sam. He clinched his jaw shut and looked at Sam. Nick slowly nodded towards her, but continued on down the hallway to the elevator. He didn't look back to see Sam go to her mother's room.


	5. Chapter 5

08/21/2005 Still same day

Chapter Five

Reilly sat back down on the couch and couldn't help but think of how distant Nick had gotten. She felt like she may have not only lost her soul mate, but her best friend, too. She had hoped he would have been excited, about the baby, but instead he looked upset and nervous. Like a deer caught in the headlights. He had pulled away from her and the baby, and yet he had asked if she needed anything and he had promised to call. She was confused herself at everything happening, but she still held out hope that Nick would want this baby as much as she did and that things would somehow work out for the best.

Until Lauren had shown up, Reilly had truly believed that she and Nick would figure something out, even if they broke up, she felt that she knew Nick would want to be a part of her life because of the child. Now she wasn't so sure. She believed he wasn't seeing Lauren and she believed him over her lies, but his reaction was part confusing and part hurtful.

She knew Nick loved kids, he came from a large family and he loved his nieces and nephews, and he worked with his emotions on cases involving children, so no one could tell Reilly he didn't feel something for this baby. Nick cared… Nick cared too much and maybe that was the problem. Maybe his emotions were controlling him too much, and that's why he looked like he was about to panic.

_Yes, that must be it._ Because Reilly knew Nick would never abandon her, it had to be that and not Lauren. She had called him and maybe she said more to him than he let on. It's possible he was holding something back, after all Reilly hadn't shared what Lauren had said to her and Sam with him.

The thought of Lauren again, made Reilly remember how Sam had gotten involved and she was not happy with her daughter. That may also be what caused Nick to pull away, because of something Sam said to him. It couldn't have been good if she hit him, too. He probably didn't want her family hating him for any of this, so he was pulling back.

Reilly knew Sam was angry, but she should have trusted her mother. Reilly had told her not to believe Lauren, and that she trusted Nick, so Sam should too. But Sam had been mad. Reilly knew she wouldn't forget about it, but she didn't think she'd confront Nick.

Sam sometimes couldn't let things go, probably because of the way her own father had failed to be there for her, she felt a lot of men were lacking; not to mention the father of her own child. Tony was a real piece of work as far as Reilly was concerned, and it had taken awhile before Sam finally saw him for what he was.

Reilly also knew that Sam was only trying to protect her mother from being hurt, and without even realizing she may have just made things worse. Things were slowly spiraling out of control and Reilly wasn't sure how to fix things.

"What am I gonna do?" Reilly asked of her stomach as she caressed it. She had the oddest feeling that somehow the baby knew exactly what was being said to him or her. "You're gonna be a real sympathetic emotional little one, aren't you? Just like your father." She added, stroking her tummy.

Reilly looked up as Sam quietly entered her room and walked over to where her mother sat on the couch. "I messed things up, didn't I?" She asked, crying as she slumped onto the couch and dropped her head in her mother's lap over her slumbering sibling. "I'm sorry, momma. I'm so sorry."

Reilly quietly stroked her daughter's hair and let her cry it out. "Shush, momma's here. Everything's going to work out just fine. Trust me. Everything happens for a reason." She continued her mantra as she quietly hoped that everything really would be fine.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick pulled into the driveway of his home and turned the truck off. He sat there for a moment as he let his head come to rest on the steering wheel. He pulled back suddenly and punched the steering wheel a couple of times before finally getting out and slamming his door a bit harder than was necessary. His mind had yet to stop working and he was surprised that he hadn't wrecked driving home.

Nick entered his house and he went straight for the fridge and got a bottle of water. The bottle dripped a Little on the floor when he opened it and he reached for a towel to wipe up the floor. After that he wiped down the counters. He was trying to stay busy, yet he still had a million thoughts running through his head. He hadn't been able to get his mind to stop… just stop working…

He decided to head back to the police station to do what he had promised Reilly he would do. He needed to file a report against Lauren. After that, he didn't know what he would do, but he had to start to make things right. He had to fix this. He'd messed this up and he needed to make things right. As if on cue, Lauren called his cell again and this time Nick ignored her call. He gathered up his keys and headed out the door to his truck.

As Nick got in his truck and drove off, he missed seeing the lone figure sitting quietly in the little blue Honda parked on the street across from his house. The cell phone in the figure's hand was still ringing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, Nick clocked in for his shift and headed out on a case at the White Horse Casino. He was to meet Warrick there to handle a DB found behind the Casino. He hurriedly donned his CSI vest in the locker room and grabbed his gun strapping it to his hip. He did a quick check of his kit before heading back out the front entrance within twenty minutes of arriving at work.

Again Nick's mind was so busy; he didn't see the same blue car parked four cars down from his truck in the Crime Lab's parking lot. He got in his truck and turned around and headed out of the lot while the car pulled out and followed him at a sedate pace.


	6. Chapter 6

08/22/2005 Early hours of Monday morning

Chapter Six

Sara and Catherine came around a corner in the lab and walked by Patrol Officers Kevin Collins and Hillary Mackland who were having a serious discussion there in the hall. Both women noticed the look on Hillary's face, but didn't stop to interrupt the couple. Everyone knew the two had been in a private relationship and there were rumors, but no one knew all the facts. Sara had become friends with Hillary, but she hesitated to stop and say 'Hi' from the look on Hillary's face.

Hillary met Sara's eyes as she passed and Sara couldn't help turning back for a second look at Hillary. But Hillary just smiled and Sara felt that maybe everything was all right; it was just a personal conversation. She didn't seem to be indicating anything was really wrong, so the two women continued walking to Grissom's office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Look, Kevin, I know we're no longer a couple, but I need to tell you something. I need to let you know… that I'm pregnant." Hillary said as Kevin's eyes widened in surprise and his face showed his shock at her announcement.

"How… I mean… you were supposed to be careful." He practically hissed at her. _What the Hell? _He thought.

"What do you mean _I _was supposed to be careful? It takes two, and it's possible it was the night you showed up drunk and wouldn't take no for an answer." She was shocked he would be turning this on her. Kevin had always been a bit forceful in their relationship, but he had never been outright cruel to her.

Lately, he had been having some issues with his anger management and was currently on desk duty following an incident where he had shown aggressive force in arresting a suspect in a liquor store robbery. The kid had been seen with a black eye and split lip when he made it to processing.

"That's no excuse – wait a minute… what do you mean 'it's possible it was that night?' What does that mean? What other nights or what other men?" He asked, replaying her words. Was he off the hook here?

"You man not be… you may not be the father." She said, quietly. This was going to be harder than she had thought.

"What?!" He bellowed. Hillary saw David Hodges poke his head out of his lab to see what was going on. When he met her eyes, he quickly ducked back inside, but Hillary suspected he was still trying to see and hear them. Hodges was the lab's rumor mill operator.

"I was with someone else, just before that night, because we had broken up and I was moving out." Hillary said, trying to remain calm and keep her voice low.

"How could you do that to me? How could you go and screw another guy?" He was shaking with anger. The little bitch, he thought. First she tries to trap him with the pregnancy, and then she's telling him she cheated on him? How could he have gotten mixed up with her? He had to get out of this one way or another.

Hillary winced at his accusation. "I didn't just go and sleep with someone else to hurt you. You threw me out, remember? I didn't know you'd come back and want to… to get back together… I guess I was lonely and vulnerable after our fight… that I was… I don't know… I was confused." She tried, not really sure how to put her thoughts into words here. His anger was upsetting to her and she didn't deserve this, even if she felt dirty herself.

Kevin looked at her like she was trash. The nerve of her to try and trap him, then tell him it was all his fault he threw her out? She wasn't to be trusted; that's why he'd kicked her out, and now he had been proven right. But then he'd gotten drunk and he had truly missed her. He must have been going crazy, but that's why he had ended up going to her place. He had really missed her. Then it hit him. "It was Stokes, wasn't it? He's the other guy you slept with, isn't he?"


	7. Chapter 7

08/22/2005 Same Day

Chapter Seven

"Kevin, I'm sorry. I really don't mean to hurt you. I'm just trying to be honest with you… here." She started to cry when she saw how angry Kevin was. This was not going well.

"And that's supposed to make it all better – knowing that my girlfriend was with one of the biggest players here in the Department?" Kevin sighed before he went on. "Hills, I can't really wrap my head around this right now. I need time to think." To say he was upset was putting it mildly. "I know I'm not the greatest man, but I do love you and to find out you're pregnant and possibly by another man? And to top it off it may be Stokes?" He ran his hand over his face as he momentarily lost his anger. "I can't talk about this right now. I'm getting a huge headache. Just… I'll talk with you later." He said, as he turned and walked away leaving her standing there alone in the hallway.

Hillary watched him walk away as she quietly went to a nearby bench and sat down. She needed to compose herself before she returned to her partner down the hall. She was feeling like she had no one to turn to. She felt like everyone would judge her the same way Kevin just had. She couldn't tell just anyone, because she didn't trust just anyone and the one person she had trusted now hated her. She thought about Nick. She still had to tell him.

Nick had been kind to her and he was a good friend and the night Kevin had kicked her out, she had called on Nick to come pick her up. They had gone on a couple dates a long time ago, and had remained friends.

He had picked her up and at her request he had helped her check into a motel for the night. That was the only place she could go because she hadn't wanted to bother her mother that night. Nick had offered to let her stay at his place in his spare room, but she just wanted to be alone. So she had stayed at the motel and Nick had picked her the next morning and while Kevin was still working they had moved her things to her mother's house.

A week later they'd met for a drink after their shifts and one thing had led to another and they had gone back to Nick's place and spent the night together. He was a really good listener and he didn't judge her or Kevin and she was a little bit drunk. She had wanted to just feel needed and cared for. Nick had made her feel that way.

But it was over the next morning; as they both had known it would be. They'd both just needed the break. They had not repeated that night, knowing it was just the one time thing. That had been four months ago and he had been on the mend from his breakup with Lauren and Hillary had just been lonely.

Nick had met someone else soon afterwards and he was doing well, so Hillary had wished him the best and settled in by herself. Then Kevin had shown up at her place when Hillary had been home alone. Kevin had been drunk and basically had pushed his way in the house, although Hillary knew she had been wishing he would come for her.

Hillary liked Nick, but she loved Kevin. And that night, even though it had started out rocky, they had ended up spending the night together and he had talked her into moving back in with him. But after a month he had become angry with her again and kicked her out once more. This time she had moved herself back to her mother's where she was still staying.

She had been trying to keep Kevin at arm's length; until she found out she was pregnant. Kevin had been behaving differently and she hadn't wanted to tell him; and when she found out just exactly how pregnant she was, she knew the baby could be either Kevin's or Nick's. Nick had tried to take precaution, but the moment had gotten away from them both and it had been forgotten; and with Kevin she didn't even think about precautions that night.

She had kept her condition a secret for the last two months, but now that she was entering her fourth month, she was required to tell her supervisor and be moved to desk duty until after the pregnancy.

So now she not only needed to tell her supervisor, but she had to tell the two men involved before they confronted her. She had told Kevin and now, as Hillary took a deep breath, she needed to find Nick and tell him. She didn't want Kevin to find him and tell him first. Nick deserved to hear this from her and not from Kevin or his anger.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at the lab after processing their crime scene, Nick and Warrick were waiting in the hallway by Henry's lab, going over their evidence log from the White Horse Casino. Their DB was downstairs in the morgue and that was their next stop after checking in with Henry and dropping off the rest of their evidence.

"Stokes!" Nick looked up at the sound of his name to see Officer Kevin Collins walking towards them.

"What's up, man?" Nick asked, as he turned his attention to the young patrolman approaching them. "Something-" Nick never finished the question as the man rushed up and punched him right in the nose. Nick fell back against the wall holding his nose with one hand and ready to block any other blows with his other. He could feel the blood flowing down his face and through his fingers.

"Hey! What the Hell are you doing, Collins?" Warrick said, reaching out to grab the cop's arm before he could land another blow to Nick's face.

The shouting caused Grissom and Brass to come running out of Grissom's office and into the hallway. They were met with the sight of Nick barely standing with blood dripping from his nose and Warrick trying to manhandle Officer Collins.


	8. Chapter 8

08/22/2005 Still same day

Chapter Eight

Sam Mallone stood waiting in the lobby for Judy to call Nick to tell him he had a visitor waiting for him. She was worried he wouldn't come when he found out it was her, but she was hoping he would. She hadn't told her mother she was making another stop to visit Nick again. But this time she just wanted to apologize for her actions of yesterday.

She knew she'd made things worse by coming to see him yesterday, but she'd been so angry. How dare he hurt her mother, especially now that Sam knew her mother was pregnant? Her mother loved Nick and she'd refused to believe anything Lauren had said, but Sam had just seen red. She should have listened to Reilly; she should have trusted Nick too.

So Sam wanted to let Nick know that she was going to trust him now. He really was different than any other man her mother had dated, and she had instantly known he was right for Reilly the first time she'd met him. He was kind and he had shown every courtesy to Reilly. He loved her; Sam could see it when the two were together.

"Hey Sam, isn't it?" The young man spoke to her from behind Judy in the hallway leading into the labs of the building.

"Yes… Sammantha, actually, but everyone calls me Sam. Do I know you?"

The man smiled as he walked up to her holding out his hand. "No, I'm Greg. I was here last night when you came by to… um… to see Nick." His smile faltered slightly, but still remained.

"Oh." Sam said, turning red at remembering there had be a couple of people with Nick when he'd come out to greet her. "I'm really sorry about that. I made a mistake and I'm so totally embarrassed by my behavior. I came back to apologize to Nick if he'll let me." She reached out and shook Greg's hand and noted he had a nice grip. Not too limp and not to strong. Sam hated someone who shook your hand too tightly; to her it meant they were trying to convey they were superior.

"Well, he's somewhere around here; would you like to walk with me and maybe we can find him?" Greg offered, still smiling. Sam was pretty hot. She was a younger version of Reilly. Might be nice to get to know her, Greg thought. He thought the world of Reilly, and here was her daughter. And she had been brave enough to come back and admit she was wrong about Nick. Whatever it was; that took courage. Greg admired that in a person.

Sam looked into the nice blue eyes of the blonde haired young man. Greg was pretty hot. Yes, he was definitely hot. Why hadn't her mother told her about Greg? She would have come to Vegas more often if she'd met Greg sooner. "Yes. That would be great." She said returning his smile. _Maybe things do happen for a reason, mom. _She thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Greg and Sam had just turned the corner in time to see Nick standing in the hallway talking to a tall black man. Greg said his name was Warrick. Sam looked closely. He was pretty hot, too. Man what was it about this place? Nick, Greg and now this Warrick. Was it in the job description that all the guys had to be hot to work here? She smiled at the thought. This must be a great working environment.

Sam's thoughts stopped dead when she and Greg saw a young police officer approach Nick and Warrick and then punch Nick. It was a total sucker punch. Nick had not seen it coming.

Sam ran up to the group with Greg following closely behind her, just as two older men ran out of an office at the noise from the fight. Sam reached into her purse and pulled out a wad of tissues and pressed them into Nick's free hand.

"Nick? Are you okay?" She asked, as she pushed his tissue filled hand up to his still bleeding nose.

Nick turned to see Sam and was surprised. "Th-thanks, S-Sam." He said, shakily as he held the tissues under his nose. "What the H-Hell is g-going on, Co-Collins?!" He managed to get out.

"What the Hell happened out here? Collins, what did you do?" The second older man said to the patrolman.

"Everyone in my office, now." The other man said.


	9. Chapter 9

08/22/2005 Still same Day

Chapter Nine

Nick and Officer Collins sat in Gil's office along with Gil, Brass and Warrick. Greg had taken Sam next door to the break room to wait for Nick, when Judy came into the break room followed by Reilly.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Sam asked, getting up from the table where she'd been sitting talking with Greg.

"I went to check on you and imagine my surprise when I found your room empty." Reilly joked. "I figured you might try and come back and see Nick. Hey, Greg, what's going on? I saw Nick in Gil's office with Brass and Warrick. Everything okay?"

"Not exactly sure. Seems the officer in with them came out of nowhere and blindsided Nick. We, me and Sam, saw it happen, but we're not sure why." Greg replied.

"He's okay, isn't he? Why would someone do that?" Reilly asked, getting worried. Why would a cop hit Nick?

"I think I may know the answer to that question." Came a voice from the doorway behind Reilly.

Reilly practically spun around. She hated having someone sneak up on her. She calmed at seeing it was Hillary Mackland. She had met her when she had been working patrol on the case that had first brought Reilly to Vegas. She was a nice person, and a good officer, but what could she possibly know about the officer and Nick?

"Hillary, what's going on?" Greg asked; he too seemed confused by what Hillary could offer up in way of explanation.

"I'll let you know." She replied, as she left the room and went to Grissom's office. The trio watched her take a deep breath, knock on Gil's door and then enter after being invited in.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick and Kevin sat in Grissom's office like children waiting in the principal's office to be reprimanded. Nick had an older bruise on one cheek and a new bruise showing up on the bridge of his nose with some dried blood on his face, hands and shirt.

Nick had no idea why Kevin would hit him. The guy used to be a really nice guy. Nick knew he and Hillary Mackland had had troubles over the past few months, but that didn't help Nick to understand what was going on that Kevin felt he needed to belt Nick.

Nick kept his eyes lowered, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone in the room, but mostly with Brass and Grissom. Hr could feel the two of them staring at him, even with out looking.

"So, which one of you is going to tell us what happened out there? Why the fight?" Grissom asked, quietly, as he stood behind his desk facing the two men.

"Either they have nothing to say, or their memories are shot." Brass replied, as both men sat quietly staring at the floor between their feet. Brass himself had been the one to put Collins on report and assigned him to desk duty until he finished an anger management course. He knew Collins should be at that desk right now and not here punching out one of the CSI's. He could understand Kevin's need to remain silent, but not Nick's. To Brass, it seemed Nick was the victim here.

The group looked up and in tangent as someone knocked on Grissom's office door. "Come in." Grissom replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly was not going to just stand there, so she walked out into the hallway and stood by Gil's office door. She would not knock; because she knew this may very well just end up being police business, but she had a feeling it was personal, so she was planning on doing a little eavesdropping.

If she stood close enough to the door, she could just make out the conversation; and with the blinds on the door closed, no one would know she was there.

Greg and Sam had followed her out of the break room and now Greg whispered to her, "Reilly, we can't be out here. We could get in trouble." He looked around worriedly.

Reilly just gave Greg the look. The one that mothers gave their kids when they'd said or done something that had displeased their mother. Greg held his hands up in mock surrender and stepped back a bit from her. He knew the look and he wasn't going to mess with a mother. He'd rather face an angry Grissom than an angry Reilly.

Sam hadn't known what to do either, so she had followed Greg simply because he'd followed her mother and now the three of them were standing outside the office trying to look like they belonged there.

"Officer Mackland, what's the problem?" Brass asked the woman officer. Reilly could hear, but she couldn't see the group, therefore she missed how Nick quickly looked back down when he saw Hillary come in the office.

"Captain… Mr. Grissom, I think I know what happened with Kevin and Nick." Hillary said. Reilly could hear the shakiness in her voice. She was upset and she sounded afraid.

"Well, tell us. We've got the time, since neither man will be going back to work until this issue has been resolved." Nick looked up in surprise at Grissom's words.

"Well, I had spoken to Kevin earlier this evening and he became upset during our conversation. I guess he kind of took it out on Nick." Hillary said, trying to pick her words carefully. She didn't want to say what really needed said in a room full of men.

"I'm gonna need more than that, Mackland. That doesn't exactly tell me why Kevin went ballistic on Nick." Brass said, looking at Kevin hoping for a reaction to Hillary's words, but the man was just sitting there.

Hillary took a deep breath. Reilly could feel her taking that breath; she was about to drop a bombshell on the group and something in the pit of Reilly's stomach started churning. She knew what was coming; this is the same feeling she had when she had told Nick she was pregnant yesterday. Reilly could only stare at the office door and couldn't help thinking that things were about to change, one way or another.

"I'm pregnant." Hillary said, firmly. While everyone in the room seemed surprised by the announcement, they didn't react to the news the same way Reilly was, because she knew what else Hillary meant by this announcement. The father of her baby was either the officer that had hit Nick; or the father _was_ Nick.


	10. Chapter 10

08/22/2005 Still same day

Chapter Ten

"Okay and this has something to do with the scuffle in the hallway earlier?" Grissom asked. He was a scientist, he was trained to look at the evidence; he wasn't good at factoring the human element into the scene, therefore he didn't quite get what Officer Mackland was implying with her announcement.

Grissom turned to look at Nick; to see if Nick understood what the officer was saying. Grissom guessed he did, because Nick had become white as a sheet and Officer Collins looked like he could spit nails.

Nick felt his stomach fall to the floor at Hillary's announcement. _Not again, he thought._ _Hillary_ _was pregnant, too._ _Oh, God, what was he going to do? How could this be happening? He couldn't have two women pregnant at the same time; that just couldn't happe_n_. He thought he'd_ _been careful with Hillary, but things happen._ _What was he going to say to Reilly?_

It doesn't matter if it does or doesn't; I hit Nick, so punish me. Nick didn't do anything." Kevin said, suddenly speaking up and sounding so totally devastated. He was sorry for what he'd done now and he was at a loss as to why he'd really attacked Nick. It wasn't his fault anymore than it was Kevin's or Hillary's. Things had just happened. _And, geez, my head is killing me, _he thought as he reached up to rub gently at his temples. The pain was becoming intense.

"It does matter, Kevin." Hillary said. "I told Kevin I was pregnant, because he could be the father." She looked at Grissom and Brass." But I'm not sure if he's the father or if… or if Nick is." She finished.

Reilly felt her world starting to tilt. Like a boat listing to one side in a storm; she was losing focus. She didn't need to look at Sam to know she was getting angry again. How could Reilly continue to defend Nick to her if he had another woman pregnant especially if he had been with Hillary during the time he was supposed to be with Reilly? This was so not good, she thought.

Nick knew it; he'd messed up; again. This was bad and now Grissom and Brass knew he'd messed up too and they would lose any respect for him if they'd ever really had any to begin with. He just wanted the floor to open up and swallow him; he just couldn't seem to stop ruining everything.

"Wait a minute. You're saying the father is either Nick or Kevin? And that's why Kevin blindsided Nick?" Warrick asked, calmly.

Nick jumped slightly when he heard Warrick speak. He'd forgotten Warrick was in the room. _He's gonna hate me, too. _Nick was about to lose everything, just because he hadn't been more careful.

"Yes. It's a long story and I'd rather not go into all the details, but I just wanted to be honest with both men. I was trying to find Nick to tell him before Kevin found him, but I didn't make it in time." Hillary looked at Nick. "I'm so sorry, Nick."

Nick avoided looking at her or anyone else in the room. He knew he had messed up and now everyone would blame him for this workplace drama. Worst of all, he was going to have to explain this to Reilly and he knew she'd end up hating him. He would end up losing her and that was what he feared the most. He wished the world would just stop spinning so he could get off this ride.

"I'm almost four months along and I was planning on coming to see you next, Captain, but I just wanted Kevin and Nick to know first. Before the entire department found out." Hillary said to Brass.

That's when the door to Grissom's office was flung open and Sam barreled into the room, seething. "You are an ass, Nick Stokes!" She said, as she approached him and slapped him again. Warrick jumped up and grabbed Sam around the waist and pulled her back from Nick.

"Sam!" Reilly yelled at her daughter from just inside the office. "Stop doing that!" She hadn't even felt Sam move around her and rush in the room. She had been too quick.

Nick had jumped up after Sam slammed into the room and hit him and now he backed away from her. He had everyone in the room looking at him and he wasn't sure what to say or do. But he was getting damned tired of people using his face to express their anger. He just wished he could get out of the suddenly crowded room before he passed out. He knew he deserved Sam's wrath, but he need to stop his racing mind; he needed everything to stop spinning out of control.

"Reilly?" Grissom asked, surprised by the intrusion. "What are you doing here and who is this?" He asked indicating Sam.

"I'm sorry, Gil. This is my daughter Sam. Everyone-Sam. She acts before she thinks, and it's becoming a really bad habit." Reilly tried smiling at everyone, but it was hard to do with all the shocked faces watching Sam and Nick. "I'm sorry for her barging in on you. Greg, could you please take Sam back to the break room and maybe cuff her to the table or something. Anything… just get her out of here." Reilly asked of Greg. Then she looked at Sam, "You are in so much trouble, girl, and trust me, one way or another, we will have words. Angry words."

Warrick reluctantly released Sam as Greg quietly, but carefully reached out and snagged Sam's arm and practically dragged her from the room. He would rather face Sam's wrath, than Reilly's. Besides, he didn't think Sam would hit him, or at least he hoped she wouldn't. It seemed her favorite target was Nick, for now.

"What the Hell?" Kevin said as he jumped up while Sam and Greg were leaving. "I don't know what just happened, but I think it's a safe bet that it seems Nick needs to keep his hands to himself." Kevin was back to feeling angry.

Reilly turned to face Kevin. The man was tall, at least six feet and he probably had a good thirty pounds on Nick. Reilly turned to Hillary after sizing up the man. "Hillary, I would love to talk to you, later; if you need to talk." Reilly turned then to look at Nick and she saw the raw emotion there deep in his brown eyes. _His poor face, she thought._

He met her eyes and she could practically hear the string of _I'm sorrys _coming from him. She tried to smile at him, but he tore his gaze away to quickly drop back down in his chair and put his head between his knees. She walked over to him and kneeled down as she gently rubbed his back. He slowly turned his head to meet her eyes and she gently leaned in and kissed his red and bruised cheek. He smiled weakly at her.

"Hillary doesn't need to talk to you or anyone else here!" Kevin roared, focusing on Reilly. He was beginning to sweat profusely and his head was pounding like he had a three day old hangover.

Reilly and Nick both turned to look at Kevin. They both slowly stood up and faced the young patrol officer. "Reilly's just trying to offer Hillary some comfort here." Nick said, as he subconsciously placed himself between Reilly and the man.

Reilly looked at Kevin again, but this time she really looked at him. "Nick… he needs help." It hit Reilly as she jerked on Nick's shirt sleeve. "Gil, you need to call for help." She turned to Grissom who still stood behind his desk. "This man is about to have a seizure!" This man was going down and judging by his size, it was going to be hard and not pretty. He needed help and soon.

And to prove Reilly's point, Kevin's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the floor thrashing and convulsing.


	11. Chapter 11

08/22/2005 Still same day

Chapter Eleven

Everyone started to rush to Kevin's aid, but they were halted by Reilly. "Stop! Leave him alone! Gil, get that ambulance!" Reilly moved around Nick and kneeled down by Kevin dragging Hillary down with her. "Don't try to touch him until he slows down. You can hurt him if you try to stop him in any way. Turn him on his side and just let it happen." She instructed Hillary.

Gill grabbed the phone and Brass hurried over to the two women and helped to turn Kevin onto his side. Warrick and Nick just stood frozen, taking in the sight in the office, and how Reilly seemed to be in control of the whole situation.

"What's happening to him?" Hillary asked afraid. She wanted to grab one of Kevin's big beefy hands in her own, but was hesitant to do so since Reilly had said to not touch him. She felt the tears falling from her eyes as she watched Kevin writhing before her. He looked so vulnerable; she was terrified for him.

"He's having a seizure. Does he have a medical history of seizures?" Reilly asked reaching out to touch Hillary's shoulder as she also checked her watch. It was important to know how long Kevin had been seizing.

"No. Nothing that I know of." Hillary answered, shocked at the sight of Kevin's limbs jerking about him.

"Jim, do you know?" Reilly asked the Captain.

"No. Nothing stands out." Brass answered, as he too knelt down by Kevin's body. His convulsing was starting to ease up, but he was still shaking.

"Has he complained of a headache…or has he had a head injury recently?" Reilly asked, pointing to Hillary to go ahead and take his hand as she took up his other one and began stroking it to try and calm the man. "He's slowing down now; try stroking his cheek or brushing his hair. Something like that will be comforting to him. He'll feel it even if he can't acknowledge it right now." She added as Hillary quickly grabbed his hand and began touching his cheek.

"He was hit in the head with a tire iron about two months ago, when trying to apprehend a gang member." Hillary replied, and Brass nodded in agreement.

"He may have developed seizures from the head injury. He may have had other seizures and no one was around to see before now. He needs to be treated and a doctor can run tests. Has his behavior been abnormal lately?" Reilly asked them.

"Yes. He was on probation for using excessive force in the arrest of a robbery suspect." Brass replied, worried now that maybe they'd all missed the warning signs.

"That was probably the first indication of a problem. Sometimes seizures are preceded by abnormal or aggressive behavior. Or he could have another medical issue. He really needs to be tested."

"He will be. He's a good officer and I'm not taking any chances here. He'll go through whatever needs to be done." Brass confirmed.

"How do you know so much about this?" Nick asked, finally speaking, his eyes meeting Reilly's. He couldn't believe how together she was about what was happening to the young officer.

"My niece was in a car accident two years ago. She developed seizures from a head injury. I've been there when she's had seizures so I read up on them. So I'd be able to help, just in case." Reilly answered as she tried to get up off the floor, but she felt her balance was off a bit as she swayed on her knees. Nick rushed over to help her to her feet.

The moment Nick touched Reilly's waist to help her up, he remembered why he was here in this office, and he remembered Hillary's announcement. "You heard what Hillary said, didn't you?" He asked softly, lowering his eyes as he spoke.

"Yes." She answered him, just as softly.

"I'm sorry, Reilly. I'm so sorry."

The room was suddenly filling up with the EMTs, so Reilly didn't get to answer Nick. He carefully, but firmly leg her over to Gil's couch and helped her to sit down. Then he went back to help Hillary to her feet. So she was out of the way for the medics to do their job. Brass stayed close relaying everything Reilly had said about Kevin's seizure.

Warrick came over and took Hillary from Nick and used his head to point Nick back in Reilly's direction. "I'll take care of Hillary. Go take care of Reilly, Nick; now." He said softly, but firmly. He would talk to his friend later.

"Yeah." Nick said quietly as he walked back over to Reilly and sat down next to her on the couch, taking her hand in his.

"I know you didn't cheat on me, Nick. Not with Lauren or Hillary." She said softly as she allowed him to take her hand.

Nick was rendered speechless by Reilly's words and just nodded as he tried to swallow the huge lump that was blocking his throat. "I'm sorry." He couldn't think of anything else to say and this was becoming his mantra.

The two sat silently as they watched Office Collins lifted onto the gurney and wheeled out. Brass told Hillary to go with him in the ambulance and he would be there as soon as he replaced both officers for the evening. After the group left Grissom's office, Brass turned to Reilly. "Thank you for helping with Collins. Just…thank you." He said gruffly.

Reilly smiled up at the man. "Your welcome. Please let me know how he's doing as soon as you can." She said as she reached out her free hand to him.

Brass took her hand in a quick squeeze and nodded, and then he left the room. Warrick had followed Hillary out to be sure she got in the ambulance okay, so there were only Grissom, nick and Reilly remaining in his office. Grissom cleared his throat and looked at the two sitting on his couch.

"Do you want to tell me what else is going on here, Nick?" Grissom asked, looking at them. He knew more was afoot than what had just happened between the officers and Nick.

"Griss, it's a long story." Nick sighed wearily. He was tired; so tired. And now there was so much more he had to deal with; that was his fault. He really needed to just stop interacting with people because he only seemed to hurt everyone he came into contact with. He had so much to try and fix, and he didn't know if he even could fix things. He was beginning to think everyone would be better off without him in their lives.

"Nick, I think we have plenty of time." Reilly said. She trusted Nick, but she also deserved to know what was going on. Especially if her child was going to have another sibling. She didn't like the idea of another woman pregnant with Nick's baby, but if it happened before they met, then that was just the way it was. She forced Nick to look at her.

She knew he was back to the self-blaming game; he always did that when something happened. Nick always seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. She could see it in his eyes, but this time she wasn't going to tell him he was wrong. He was going to have to realize he couldn't control everything that happened to him. He was going to have to come to terms with the fact that things just happened in life and the best one could do was roll with the punches and continue living. One way or another everything happened for a reason.

"Well…" Nick began.

AN: Please read and review. Let me know what you think.

Just a note, I had a family member that was in auto accident and developed epilepsy from a head injury so this topic is based on my experience with her care. I may not be totally accurate, but I tried to the best.

Thank you!


	12. Chapter 12

08/23/2005 Late Tuesday evening

Chapter Twelve

Nick had been off Monday night, but when he arrived for his shift on Tuesday evening he ran into Hillary. She had been looking for him and she finally caught up with him in front of the lab building. He had basically holed himself away in his home all day Monday after he had spent the remainder of his last shift in Grissom's office telling him the entire story.

He'd needed the time to relax and come to terms with the facts that his world was imploding around him. He had taken in a lot over the last forty-eight hours and he'd needed time to think things through.

It helped that both Reilly and Grissom had said they would stand by him, no matter what happened with Hillary and Kevin. He had made a mistake with Hillary, and it wasn't her fault and if he was the father of her baby too, then he would accept that and help her in any way he could, but he wasn't ready to face her just yet. He was already worried about his friends at work and what they would say when the news got around.

"Nick…" Hillary said, feeling ashamed at everything she had done to this man. She was leery of seeing him, but she knew she still needed to talk to him.

"Hey…" He replied, not making eye contact with her. "I'm running kind of late right now." He added, hoping to spare them both the talk that he knew they really did need to have.

Hillary realized that he was still upset about everything and she knew he had every right to be, but she still needed to set things straight.

"Look, Nick. I won't keep you… I just wanted to let you know that I'm not expecting you to feel any obligation of this baby turns out to be yours. I understand you have your life with Reilly and your baby with her deserves you first and foremost. I don't want to break up anything you have with her at all. I just… I just want you to know that if you are the father, you can be in this baby's life as much or as little as you want to." She spoke softly.

Nick was surprised by this. He was the one that had caused all this trouble for both women, and here they were letting him off the hook. Hillary had just given him his freedom, and Reilly had said as much yesterday after they were finished talking with Grissom. She had told him she didn't believe he had ever cheated, but if he needed time to think, she would give it to him. And if he decided he wanted out, he was free to walk away. Both of these women were ready to let him just walk away and that actually hurt worse than finding out he had two babies to be responsible for.

"Hillary, you don't realize what this is doing to me. I love Reilly, but she's already told me I can walk away too, if I want. And now you're letting me have the same option? I'm so messed up right now." He paused as he ran his hand nervously through his hair. "I ant to do the right thing here and if this baby is mine, I will be there for you. I promise. Just tell me when your appointments are and I'll go with you. I'll be there for you." He finally looked her straight in the eye. "I've already decided I'm going with Reilly to all her appointments if I'm not working; at least she's here in Vegas. She's seeing a doctor here when she's in Vegas, and she has an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

"Its okay, Nick. I don't have an appointment until next week and right now I'm on leave until Kevin's tests are back." She paused, thinking about what she was going to say next. "I'll be five months pregnant in lest than a week and I've been doing some research and talking with my doctor. I've decided that it's not fair for you to not know if you're the father until after the baby is born, so I'm going to have a pre-natal pregnancy test done that will determine the baby's DNA. I'm doing it next week during my regular appointment."

Nick was surprised. "What does that mean?" He looked scared and confused at the same time.

"I'm going to have a test done that will determine the fetus' DNA and then that DNA can be compared to both yours and Kevin's to determine which of you the father is. Kevin wants me to do this and it's the only way to know before the baby is born."

"No… I mean is there a risk to the child? To you?" Nick asked, stunned. "I mean I'm all for wanting to know who the father is right now, but not if there is a risk to you or the baby. To be getting the DNA would be an invasive procedure and there's always a risk with that." He added, slightly angry that Kevin would want her to risk herself or the baby.

"I created this mess, Nick, and I need to fix it. Yes, there is a risk, but it's very minimal and the doctor says it's becoming commonplace now, because it is mainly performed to look for any health problems with the baby. All I need from you is a sample of your blood which you can give next week at the appointment. We should have the results in a couple days, a week tops. After that, hopefully things will work themselves out." She said, sounding strong for the first time in weeks.

"All right, if that's what you want, I won't try and talk you out of it. Besides I won't pretend that I'm not happy being able to know the results sooner, I just don't want anyone to suffer because of me." Nick paused, as he took in the information from Hillary. "Hillary, please know that if I am the father, I promise I'll be there in anyway you need me to be. I'm not going to let you go through this basically alone. And I know Reilly won't either."

"How is Reilly doing?" Hillary asked, truly interested and hopefully to help lighten the mood a bit. "I owe her a debt I can't possibly repay in helping with Kevin. I really want her to know that I'm there for you and her if you guys need me to. You're a great friend, Nick, and Reilly is golden. You might try and not let her get away." She smiled at him.

"Yeah. I'm trying." He laughed. "She's having morning sickness like you wouldn't believe; she thinks she's already getting fat at almost four months and her mood swings are out in full force. She says the morning sickness is the worst she's ever had." Nick paused, "And even though she tells me she knows I'd never cheat on her, she still sulks around a lot. Pregnancy hormones she says, but I know it's more than that. And I fall in love with her more and more each day, but she doesn't think she's worth loving right now." Nick was trying hard to see the good in this. "She won't stay with me at my place; she's still staying at the hotel. Oh, and then there's Sam, her daughter. She still hates me with a passion, but I have a plan to fix that. I've asked her to help me fix up my spare bedroom for a nursery and she agreed, although she was a little reluctant."

Nick looked thoughtful for a moment. "Reilly tells Sam, I'm a good man, but I don't feel like a good man. I've hurt so many people and let so many others down. I've screwed everything up and I'm not sure how to get any of this back on track."

"Wow." Hillary said, shocked at all that. "Maybe I should go see Reilly. I mean I could talk to her about Kevin and just be there as another woman who understands what she's going through right now." She said smiling up at Nick. "Don't worry; it'll be alright, Nick. Everything will work out, I promise. She's just feeling the same way I've been feeling." She paused then said, "Nick, you have to stop blaming yourself for everything that's happened here. It took two people in each situation, so you were not alone in messing things up. Me and Reilly understand that, and you need to try and see it that way too. Everything that has happened is just life, and you can't stop it from happening. Get used to it."

"Yeah, I guess.." He looked at her and smiled. "It'd be great if you saw Reilly, though. She doesn't have many friends here in Vegas and I'd like her to decide to move her, but right now she's still fighting me on that." He said, sounding lost.

Hillary looked at the man. She felt so sorry for what he was going through." Don't worry. I'll call her. We can go shopping and maybe even have lunch." Hillary smiled. She was actually looking forward to bonding with Reilly.

"Thanks, Hillary. Thank you, really." Nick said feeling happy for the first time in days.

"No problem. I'll text you the appointment time for next week and bring Reilly along. And I want to see her sonogram photos." She reached up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll be in touch one way or another about things. Have a good shift." She waved good bye and headed to her car in the parking lot.

Nick waved back and watched until she was safely in her car before he went in the building.

Neither Nick nor Hillary had noticed the figure watching them from the shadows of the blue care parked on the street. The woman peered out the windshield of her small Honda and saw Hillary reach up and give Nick a quick kiss on the cheek. "How sweet." She said to herself. "All this watching I've been doing and all I've really seen is that you have managed to get two little whores pregnant, Nick Stokes. Shame on you. I think you need to be punished for that." She added, as she watched until the man had disappeared into his building.

AN: I work in the medical insurance field, so I looked up the info on the pre-natal testing and took this straight from our medical format. If anyone feels I am wrong, please let me know. I may have interpreted the info wrong, and will correct if necessary. And please review!

Thank you!


	13. Chapter 13

08/24/2005 Wednesday afternoon

Chapter Thirteen

Late the next afternoon, Nick had stopped at Reilly's hotel and picked her up and they were currently driving in relative silence to her ultrasound appointment. Nick was excited to see if they were having a boy or a girl and he wanted to convey that excitement to Reilly.

"So are you wanted a boy or a girl?" He asked her. He spared a quick look at her as he drove down the busy street.

"I'm just hoping for a healthy baby, Nick. Why? Do you want a boy or a girl?" She asked her tone soft. She knew he was trying, but she just couldn't bring herself to get excited when there was a chance they might be together after the baby was born.

"I want a healthy baby, too, Reilly. You know that. I'm just tying to get you excited. Weren't you excited the first time, when you found out Sam as a girl?"

"When I was pregnant with Sam, they didn't do an ultrasound to determine the sex; only if they suspected medical issues, at least my doctor didn't. I'm not exactly used to all the things they can do now compared to a lifetime ago. It does surprise me all the things they can do now." She couldn't help smiling a little as she realized how much things had changed over the years. She was really beginning to feel like she was foolish for being an older woman and having a baby.

"Wow. So you had no idea until the deliver?" Nick was surprised by that. He always saw Reilly has being ready with all the facts and he knew from past experience how she always had to be in charge. He was surprised she went through that not knowing until the end if she had a son or a daughter.

"Nope. I was prepared for a boy, just a feeling my mother had, but I ended up with a girl and I'm okay with that. Besides a girl was easier since Sam's father didn't want to be involved anyway." Reilly replied becoming a little quieter at the memories of Sam's father.

"Reilly that will never happen with me. You're stuck with me. Please believe me when I say I'm here for eternity. You can't get rid of me." He reached out and took her hand in his. He was pleasantly surprised when she didn't immediately pull away from his touch.

"I know, Nick." She turned misty eyes to him. "I know."

"Reilly, are you okay? Are _we _okay?" He asked. "I mean I know I've messed up, but I'm trying so hard to fix things. I love you and I'm not going away. And whether you decide to stay in Vegas or go back home, I'm still going to be there for you. Please believe me." Nick tried hard to get her to understand.

"Nick, I know you're trying. I know you love me. I know you will be there for our baby. I know all of that, and yet it still doesn't change how I feel. The only thing I keep thinking about is the fact that you're younger than me and that someday you're going to fall out of love with me. I know you say you won't, but I can't help feeling this way. And now we have to deal with Lauren and we also have to deal with Hillary and Kevin. Don't get me wrong, I love Hill, she's a great friend, but I can't help looking at her or even at Lauren and seeing myself pale in comparison. They are young and either of them could give you more children. This baby will be it most likely. To me, it's a miracle I conceived at all. I don't think I've got the juice to pop out anymore." Reilly said it all in a rush. This was the most she'd said at one time on the subject since hearing Hillary's confession in Grissom's office.

Nick was speechless at first. She really thought he'd toss her aside when another younger woman came along? Oh, my God, he thought. "Reilly, none of that could be farther from the truth. If you truly believe that I'd toss you aside for someone else, younger or not, then you really don't know me at all." He couldn't believe she felt that he would do that to her.

"Nick, we're almost there, let's not ruin this moment." She said quietly going back inside herself. So it was said. She had said it out loud. She hated herself for being older and she was envious of the younger women. That was her one problem. She could not get past the age difference. She'd tried, but she just couldn't stop hating herself for being older.

Nick turned into the medical park's parking lot and parked his truck. What was he going to do? Reilly really didn't believe he would be there all the way to the end. How was he going to get through to her that he didn't give a damn about her age? Well, one way or another, he thought he was going to have to work hard at this relationship and prove to her that she was stuck with him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The little blue Honda followed Nick's truck into the medical park and pulled in a space a few spaces down from Nick. The woman staying in the car and watched as Nick and Reilly exited the truck and went into the medical building. The woman's dark brown eyes were trained on the couple until they had entered the building. While she sat in her car and waited for them to return to their vehicle, her cell phone rang. As she reached for it, she checked the caller ID and couldn't help smiling at the name displayed.

"Hello, sis. How's things going on your end?" She said into the phone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So are you two ready to see what you're going to have?" The nurse said, her soft Midwestern accent coming through as she smiled at Nick and Reilly.

"Yes." Reilly said, smiling as she lay back on the exam table while another nurse squirted the gel on her exposed tummy.

Nick chuckled softly as he felt Reilly give an involuntary shudder from the cold gel hitting her skin.

"Do you want to hear the heartbeat?" She asked them. Reilly nodded looking at the monitor showing their baby moving about. The nurse reached over and twisted a knob and suddenly the exam room filled with the sound of the baby's heartbeat. Nick squeezed her hand as he beamed. "We have a very healthy heartbeat." She said. "Hummmmm…"

Reilly turned to look at the nurse as she seemed to be watching the monitor quite intently. "What's wrong?" Reilly asked, her mother's intuition rearing up. She knew that look on the nurse's face. Something was puzzling her.

The nurse turned and smiled at her though. "Nothing's wrong at all. Just seems that I'm hearing an echo. Could be the sound bouncing off something or it could be…" she let the sentence trail off.

"Could be what?" Nick panicked; he didn't know what was going on, but if Reilly was worried, he was worried.

"Nothing, sweetie. Nothing at all." The woman smiled warmly at the both of them, but Reilly could still sense that something was not quite right. "Reilly it's nothing at all. See the echo's gone now. We're only hearing one strong heartbeat." She seemed to be telling the truth there, but Reilly wasn't going to let this go.

"You're absolutely sure nothing's wrong?" She asked again.

"Yes, absolutely. Now you're scheduled to meet with Dr. Warren on Monday and he can go over these results in depth with you then. And please there really is nothing wrong here. I mean it." She smiled as she reached over to turn another knob. "Now, let's get a good look at this baby… it looks like you are having a…"

AN: please don't forget those reviews!


	14. Chapter 14

08/29/2005 Monday afternoon

Chapter Fourteen

It had been five days since Reilly's ultrasound showed they were having a girl and Nick had made sure everyone knew it, because he loved showing off his baby's first picture, her sonogram. Everyone was truly happy for him and he knew he was being sappy, but he didn't care. Even Reilly couldn't help but get caught up in his silliness whenever he pulled out the picture to show if off for the umpteenth time. He'd even shown their waitress when they'd gone out to dinner last night.

He was like a little boy. He was smiling more and he was trying to make things right with Sam, too. They had talked and they were working out their feelings towards the situation and with each other. They were both trying very hard fro Reilly's sake.

Sam had gone back home to check up on her grandmother and her daughter, but she'd come back to be here for Reilly for a few days, because Reilly had decided to stay in Vegas until she delivered the baby. Mainly so Nick could be there when his child was born. She was still up in the air about whether she would decide to live here permanently.

Nick was slowly winning Reilly over, too. She had moved from the hotel to his place and was staying with him for now. They were both still walking around things and she was still fighting her feelings of not measuring up in her own eyes as worthy of Nick and he was still trying to make her feel needed and wanted. He was really trying hard to fix heir relationship.

Standing just outside the spare room at Nick's house, Reilly watched as Nick and Sam painted it for the baby. Nick had enlisted Sam's help in turning the room into a nursery and as she watched Nick trying to paint the ceiling with the roller brush, she saw he was getting more paint on him than the ceiling. She smiled at how gorgeous he was even with pink paint smearing his face and body.

As she stood there watching, she couldn't help thinking about the first time the two of them had decided they didn't really hate each other quite as much as they had thought. Although that wasn't the way they had started out. The two had butted heads from their first hello. It was after Reilly and Brass had found Reilly's goddaughter, Lexie. Reilly had come to Vegas to find her when she went missing and it had been traumatic and had left Reilly feeling like such a failure for not finding her sooner.

They had found Lexie in a car in the city; she was being transported to another location. They had had come from a cabin at Lake Mead, where she was first being kept, and the place… well, the cabin had been full of things that Reilly hadn't really wanted to see at the time. Three days after Lexie went back home with her family, Reilly decided she needed to see the place. She needed to see exactly what Lexie had been through. Brass wouldn't let Reilly go alone, so he had asked Nick to take her, since Nick knew more about the case than any of the other CSIs; and Nick had thought he could go over the place again for anything that may have been missed, but he knew Brass just wanted him to babysit her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_It was raining hard and the roadway was slick. Reilly was driving the POS cop car to the best of her abilities, but the car couldn't handle the slick pavement as well as Nick's truck would have. She knew she should have let him drive them, but she hated having him drive her anywhere, let alone in his personal vehicle with him in charge. This way she could at least think she was still in charge of things._

_Nick sat in stony silence in the passenger seat just staring out at the rain. He was clenching and unclenching his jay, and Reilly knew that was a sign he was trying very hard to keep quiet and keep his temper in check. She didn't care what he thought anyway, but for some reason, just seeing him sitting there not talking pissed her off more._

_"Look, you didn't have to come. I don't need a babysitter. Brass should be more worried about this case than what may happen to me out here." She said, as she white-knuckled the steering wheel. The rain was coming down in sheets and it was getting hard to see even with the wipers going at top speed. "Stupid piece of shit car; should have rented something." She mumbled to herself, but Nick had heard._

_"I told you we should have taken my truck, but NO, little Miss Kansas Princess decides one way or another she's gonna have her way so she can be in charge." Nick said sarcastically. He couldn't believe the things he did for his friends. He was so going to kick Brass' ass for this. Making him babysit this woman when he knew Nick couldn't stand being in the same room with her, let alone the same car._

_"Hey, don't get pissy with me, science boy; I don't want you here anymore than you want to be here. So shut up already and let me drive." She practically hissed at him._

_"Look, Reilly…" Nick started to tell her to just pull over and let him take the wheel, but his eye caught sight of the frightened deer before she could. The doe was running across the field on his side so Reilly hadn't seen it yet. "Look out!" He yelled as he reached out for the steering wheel at the same time Reilly hit the brakes upon seeing the deer._

_"What the…!" She started to yell at him for grabbing the wheel, but then she saw the deer and they both were wildly fighting for control of the steering wheel. She hit the brakes a little too hard, and the car began to hydroplane across the roadway on the right side of the road. The car couldn't be stopped now, so she let off the gas pedal completely, and started pumping the brakes, but because they were both still fighting for control of the wheel, the car didn't know which way to go, so it chose it's own way and it slid completely off the roadway into the grass and kept going until they ended up sliding across mud. The car continued to try to make a run for it anyway as they headed straight for the huge tree in their line of sight._

_"Reilly!" Nick yelled as he released the steering wheel and grabbed her and pulled her down in the seat and tried his best to cover her with his upper body. He released his seatbelt and moved to cover her in case the air bag deployed._

_Reilly let him cover her and she felt his body jerk as the car skidded directly into the tree. A tree branch came through the windshield and the glass was hanging from the limb more than actually being where it should have been. Nick had hit the steering wheel with his right shoulder as they came to a complete stop and she had felt it as well as heard him grunt from the pain of the blow. It took a few seconds for realization to dawn on Reilly that the car was stopped. She tried to push up, but Nick's heavy weight was still covering her. She turned her face outward and tried to move, but his weight was too much for her._

_"Nick!" She yelled._


	15. Chapter 15

Past Revisited

Chapter Fifteen

_"Nick!" Reilly yelled, trying hard to get out from under his weight._

_"Stop moving… I hear you… you annoying woman." Nick grunted. He slowly moved off the top of her groaning in pain as he did so._

_When he had moved and was sitting back over on his side of the car again, she raised her head to look at him. He was pale, and he had a cut on his forehead. He had his eyes closed and she knew he had hit his shoulder because she had felt it from his body's reaction. She released her seatbelt and reached a shaky hand out to check on him._

_"Don't even think about it… I'm not dead… just knocked around thanks to your crazy driving." He replied, finally opening his eyes and looking at her._

_"My crazy driving?! You're the one who grabbed the wheel from me! This is your fault!" Reilly screeched at him. How in the world could she have been so worried about this guy? He was unreal, God, she hated him!_

_"Yeah… my fault! It's all my fault, because I agreed to even be here with you in the first place! I am so tearing Brass a new one when we get back!" He yelled back at her._

_Reilly couldn't help smiling at that because she was thinking the same thing. If Brass hadn't insisted, Nick wouldn't be here to be a pain in her ass. So it was all Brass' fault. _

_"You have a cut on your head. Where else are you hurt?" Reilly asked him quietly, reaching for some napkins in the console and handing them to Nick._

_He reached out slowly and took the napkins and pushed them to his forehead. "Well, my ass hurts from you riding it!" He muttered. "But other than that, I'll live." He replied, giving her a smirk._

_"Well, sorry about your ass, I'll just have to ease up a bit, since you're such a delicate man who can't take a little crap from a wee little Kansas Princess." Reilly smirked back at him, then she let it settle into a full on smile._

_Nick slowly grinned, "Point taken; time to man up." He looked out what was left of the windshield and stated the obvious, "Well, looks like we crashed."_

_"Oh, good one, Sherlock. Now I can sit back ad stop wondering why the car has stopped moving. You've solved the case."_

_"You are not funny, princess." He said, looking at her. "Since it's you're fault we crashed, you know."_

_"We already went through this; I did NOT crash this car!"_

_"Well, who's sittin' in the driver's seat? Hummmm?" He asked, innocently smiling at her._

_"Oh, you are impossible!" Reilly said, as she jerked on her door handle and pushed the door open. She grabbed the keys from the ignition and got out of the car._

_Nick watched as she got out and went around to the trunk of the car. He sighed, as he realized he had to see what she was up to and follow her. He so hated this, he thought as he got out and ran back to the trunk to join her._

_"What the Hell are you doing?" He asked as he saw her grabbing for the shotgun attached to the underside of the trunk lid. She also grabbed a backpack and his CSI field kit. He reached out and grabbed the kit from her and then snatched at the backpack._

_"We can't stay in the car, the windshield is crushed and barely hanging on and it won't be long with this rain, before we're drenched and frozen and stuck in the car. I'd rather be making our way down the trail to the cabin where we can at least maybe get warm and dry while we wait out this storm. We were fairly close to the turnoff anyway; only a few yards away, before YOU crashed the car!" She yelled at him over the sound of the driving rain._

_"We're walking in this?" He couldn't believe her. She was totally crazy. He had proof now._

_"Yes. What's the matter Mr. Texas Gotta Man Up, too civilized to do a little hikin'?" She said in her best southern drawl. "Too delicate to actually have to walk in a mild little rain shower?"_

_"You are so getting' it when we find shelter. I have had it up to here with you!" Nick said as he indicated a place somewhere over his head. He grabbed the bags and started walking._

_Reilly reached into the trunk and grabbed the flashlight. She slammed the trunk closed and headed off after Nick shining the flashlight in the darkness._

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

_Reilly tried to keep the flashlight shining on the ground to help them find the trail, but Nick insisted on leading the way, so she had to settle with staying as close to him as possible. And the man seemed hell-bent on marching at a pace that took two of her steps to his one, so she was practically running to keep up with his long legs. She was so gonna kill Mr. Texas Dud when she got the chance. Preferably while he slept. With a plastic bag maybe. No, she'd just shoot him; she had the shotgun after all. She'd get off. She'd push for an all woman jury and she knew they'd see her side. Yep, shootin' him in his sleep._

_She had been so busy trying to keep up with him and looking at the ground, that she didn't see him stop until she ran right into his backside. She reached out to grab a hold of his jacket to keep from falling and he dropped his bags to turn and grab her arms to keep her on her feet._

_"Sorry." He mumbled an apology._

_Reilly just nodded. "Why'd you stop?"_

_\Nick pointed in front of him. Reilly looked up through the driving rain and saw what he was pointing at. There in front of them was a cabin. Not the one they'd been looking for, but a different older looking cabin. Nick bent down and grabbed the backpack and his kit and headed for the cabin. Reilly scrambled to keep up still carrying the shotgun and flashlight. She was soaked through to her skin, and now the temperature was dropping and she was beginning to freeze._

_She watched as Nick climbed the porch steps two at a time and ducked under the eave for protection from the rain. As he stood there he shook himself like a dog when they're drying off after a dip in the big mud puddle in the backyard. Looking at him doing that made Reilly think of him as a Labrador. A large solid beautiful chocolate Lab._

_He reached out and tried the doorknob. "Locked." He said as she caught up to him._

_"Of course it is." Reilly said, as she dropped the flashlight on the porch with the bags. Her teeth were starting to chatter and Nick turned to look at her._

_He seemed to be deciding something as she just looked back at him. She couldn't hide that she was starting to shake, too. She tried to hold the gun steady as she tried not to shake and chatter. Nick watched her for a moment more than he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. He flipped the blade out and slipped it in between the door and the door frame as he worked it around, finally he gave a quick twist with his wrist and threw is body weight against the door and it popped open._

_"How'd y-you do th-that?" Reilly asked surprised, starting to stutter from her teeth clacking away in her head._

_"I'm not just another pretty face." He grinned at her. "I was raised in hunting cabins. I'm from Texas, remember?" He smirked at her._

_AN: Don't forget to keep those reviews coming in - I love hearing from you all!_


	16. Chapter 16

Past Revisited

Chapter Sixteen

_"Wh-Whatever." Reilly tried to sound flippant, but with her teeth chattering away, it was hard to pull off._

_Nick just grinned as he grabbed all the bags and flashlight and preceded her into the cabin. It was dusty, but relatively clean. It was very cold, at least to Reilly. Nick stopped just inside the door and took of his jacket. He was dripping from everywhere. He bent down and pulled off his boots and socks._

_"What a-are you d-d-doing?" Reilly asked, watching as he removed his footwear._

_"It's cold, and I need to get a fire going and we need to get dry as quickly as possible. You should take off your shoes and socks too; cold feet aren't gonna help you get warm." He walked over to the fireplace and seeing that there was a nick log pile, he began working on getting a fire started._

_Reilly just stood there watching as he went about building the fire like he did it everyday. Hell, the man knew what he was doing; she had to give him that. Well, only to herself would she admit that. There was no way in hell she was telling him that. Besides, she still planned to shoot him. Well, not until he finished with the fire first._

_Once Nick had the fire going, he got up and turned to look at her. "You haven't taken off your shoes yet." He said, as he walked over to where he had left his shoes. He watched her as he reached down and picked up his jacket and things and when she didn't respond to him, he dropped them and questioned her. "Reilly? You okay?"_

_Reilly was watching him, but she was so friggin' cold, she couldn't really move. Not voluntarily anyway. She was standing there twitching and chattering as she watched Nick. Her brain was sending out the signals to her body to move, but her body was not responding. "I'm t-t-too fr-fr-friggin' c-c-cold to mo-move." She stuttered._

_Nick smiled at her, "Okay. Stay here and don't move I'll be right back."_

_She watched as he picked up the flashlight she'd dropped with the bags and shotgun earlier and went looking for something in the cabin. Was he serious? She'd just said she couldn't freakin' move, the idiot. God, shooting was too good for this man. She needed to torture him first. Yes. That'd be good. Sweet torture. She could…she snapped back when she heard him coming back._

_He must have found the bedroom, because he had a couple blankets and it looked like he had just yanked them off a bed. He walked over to her and said, "Don't hit me or anything, alright? But I need to get you out of those wet clothes before you catch pneumonia."_

_She really didn't get what he was saying; concentrating was getting harder, she figured because her brain was becoming as numb as her body. Nick reached out and unbuttoned her jacket and pulled it off. She stood as still as she could while he did this. Okay, no problem so far, she thought. Nothing worth hitting him over yet. Until he reached for the bottom, of her T-Shirt and began pulling it over her head. That brought her around._

_"Wh-What the H-Hell are y-y-you doi-ing?" She yelled past her chattering teeth, trying to make her numb fingers stop her shirt's progress, but they wouldn't cooperate._

_He ignored her and her fingers as he finished getting her wet shirt off and tossing it on the floor; he reached for a blanket. He pulled it around her shoulders; as he wrapped it around her he reached behind her under the blanket and quick as a flash he had her bra unhooked and was pulling it off in one quick move. He smiled at her as he looked at it. "Nice. Blue's my favorite color." He said, as he tossed her bra on the floor with her shirt._

_Reilly stood there with her mouth open gaping at him. He reached out and pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders. Then he bent down and untied her boots and pulled each one off along with her socks. He looked up at her as he reached inside the blanket and undid the button to her jeans and began pulling them and her underwear down in one swift move. Reilly felt his fingers brush against her skin as he pulled her clothes off. She just continued to gape at him._

_"Panties match the bra; I love when they're a set." He stated grinning as he held her underwear up dangling from one of his fingers, the water dripping onto the floor._

_Reilly realized he was trying to irritate her; to get her mad; to warm her up. He was goading her into an argument. She decided right then, damn him, she was older and wiser, and she wasn't going to be baited, even if it was for her own good._

_So she looked at him and said, "Me too. They ma-make me f-f-feel; so-so pr-pr-pretty." She smiled ever so sweetly at him as her teeth continued to chatter away._

_He laughed outright at that. She pulled her blanket tight around her now that she was totally naked underneath and watched as he picked up her clothes along with his things and took everything over to the fireplace. He pulled some cushions off a sofa and laid them on the floor in front of the fire._

_"Come over here and sit by the fire. You'll be arm in no time." He said to her as he was situating the cushions._

_Reilly looked at him and then slowly padded over to the cushions. As he reached out to help her down, she asked him teasingly, "Aren't you gonna strip too?" _

_He just smiled at her as he made sure she was seated okay. He stood up and threw another log on the fire to get a good heat going, and then he reached down and pulled his sopping wet T-Shirt over his head. Reilly watched, she couldn't help it. He'd seen parts of her already, so she thought it was only fair to see some of him. But when she saw how his body was toned and muscled, she realized she shouldn't be doing this. She felt a red hot rush of heat creep up into her face. She hoped he would take it as a reaction to the heat from the fire had had blazing._

_Nick continued undressing pulling off his jeans and draping them over the fireplace hearth with the other clothes already spread out. He grabbed the other blanket and wrapped himself up before he removed his boxer briefs. Reilly couldn't help feeling disappointed about that._

_"Disappointed?" He asked as she realized he had been watching her as she had been watching him undress._

_"No!" She turned her face away from him and she moved to sit with her back against the hearth._

_Nick walked over to her and sat down right next to her. He then moved to pull her blanket around him and cover them both in the two layers of warmth._

_She turned and looked at him, "What are you doing now?" She demanded._

_"Trying to keep you warm. You're freezing. Your lips and fingers are blue." He explained. "Trust me; I don't want anything from this, but to keep both of us alive for the night. Especially since it's your fault we're stuck out here in the first place." He ignored her flimsy protests to keep him from touching her._

_When his arm came out and wrapped around her waist and pulled her backside up against his broad muscled chest, she stopped protesting and jet let him pull her in closer as he moved them to lie down on the cushions. She felt him cradle her up against him. She decided she enjoyed feeling his warmth starting to seep into her bones. She had him up against her back and the fire to her face. Soon she was fast asleep and not conscious of how her body seemed to burrow into his hold over her. She missed seeing how he was smiling into her hair as he held tightly to her before he too fell asleep._


	17. Chapter 17

Past Revisited

Chapter Seventeen

_She must have fallen asleep, she thought. She felt so blissfully warm. Then she realized she felt something else. She looked down at the broad strong arms circling her body and felt the rock hard body at her back. Then she realized she was feeling another something else. One of those strong hands was gently stroking her left breast._

_She knew Nick must be asleep by the even sounds of his breathing, but he was still stroking her breast. She thought to herself, this is so not good. I need this to stop. But Reilly made no move to remove his hand from her body. Instead she closed her eyes and let the feeling come over her. As she became aware of the stroking becoming more intense, she also became aware that Nick was also becoming aroused. She thought about moving, but then thought THAT'S a bad idea. She thought about trying to wake him, but she didn't want to be embarrassed or embarrass him. Wait why did she care about him? She hated this guy, didn't she?_

_And that's when she realized one final thing. She did not hate Nick Stokes; she loved him. Oh – my – God. I love him. And that's also when Nick decided to move. He moaned as he began to shift against her, and when he realized he had an erection, he froze. She knew what was going through his mind, because the same things had been going through her mind a few minutes ago._

_"I'm awake science guy." She said, smiling to herself. She wished she could've seen his face when she spoke._

_"Mmmm, sorry…" he mumbled into her hair. "I think I should ummm… no that's not… ummm…" He didn't know what he should do. If he moved against her, it would be torture. If he stayed put it wasn't going to go away and that would also be torture._

_Reilly turned her head to look up into his damn chocolate eyes. The same eyes that had had her from the first time he'd laid them on her. She reached up and pressed her lips to his; gently at first until she knew what he would do. When she felt him respond to her, she deepened the kiss and allowed him to turn her slowly onto her back and move over her._

_She heard him moan against her lips and when he pulled back a little, he said, "God help me, but I want you Reilly Mallone."_

_Before Reilly's brain could fully take that in he pulled her against him and his mouth came down again over hers in a warm passionate kiss. She could feel his hands caressing her back as he gently moved his lips from hers to take in her earlobe and then she felt him bury his face in the crook of her throat as he kissed the pulse beating wildly at her neck._

_His hands moved over her breasts and down the length of her body, exploring her curves and hollows. When his hands moved lower, she shivered at the touch of him there. She forced herself to lie still under his roaming hands and to enjoy the experience to the fullest. A part of her brain was telling her she should stop him because he didn't love her, but she was too far gone, and his touch was doing things to her that her brain was beginning to respond to as well._

_At least, thank God, Nick was with it enough to know exactly what to do considering she wasn't; he was gentle, his hands patient with her shivering flesh. He was a passionate lover, he was sharing everything. His body half covered hers where they lay and his hands were continuing to explore her body. His fingertips brushed like fire against her skin. She felt his mouth return to her breast, his lips and tongue teasing her nipple until she moaned and at the same time, taking her by surprise, his fingers were moving lower stroking her flat stomach and then even lower until he found hat he had been looking for._

_He gently moved his fingers in and out stroking her there until she thought she'd have an orgasm just from his touch. He was good at this, her numbed brain was thinking. Very good. After a while she simply forgot who he was and who she was. She forgot the anger she felt for him at times and allowed herself to fall into the dark velvety abyss his lovemaking was creating._

_She was vaguely aware of how his eyes went from chocolate brown to deep black showing his desire for her. She was also aware of his scent. He smelled very male mixed with soap and a mild aftershave of a woodsy scent. He smelled so damn good, she thought. She felt him move off of her and for an instant she didn't understand why until she searched his face._

_"I… I have to… ummm… just a second." He said, as he moved over to his jeans and pulled out his wallet. She realized then what he was searching for. His hands trembled as he pulled the small square from his wallet._

_"Okay?" He seemed to be asking her._

_She smiled at him and reached for the packet. "Let me… please?"_

_He grinned as he let Reilly take the packet from him. She returned his grin as she pulled the condom from the wrapper and moved under him to slowly, very slowly roll the condom gently down his throbbing penis. He was bracing himself on the cushions with his arms on either side of her, and Reilly could see how his arms quivered while she was performing her task._

_"You are enjoying that way too much." He said softly smiling at her._

_"Yes, I am." She smiled back up at him._

_Finally with her job done, he came back down on her and returned to his roaming of her body. His mouth came down over hers harder this time, because he was beginning to feel his urgency to move on as she kept her arms wrapped around him, her nails leaving mild red marks on the skin of his back._

_Slowly he lifted his body so his knees were between her thighs now and he reached down to guide himself as he slowly entered her. He moved so slowly relishing the experience. He claimed her mouth when he finally thrust all the way inside her. He felt her gasp against his mouth as he began to rhythmically move over her. She was so moist and wet, he thought. God, she was hot. His mouth continued to move over hers and down her throat to her breasts as she began to move her hips in time to his thrusts._

_She was gripping his back and his ass; God his ass, she thought, he had an amazing ass; she pushed him into her harder and harder until he thought he would explode at any moment. He fought to keep control until he knew she was close to reaching her climax as well. One way or another, they both knew they had crossed over that fine line of love/hate and that there was no turning back now. They were done for._

_Nick wanted her to enjoy this as much as he was so he began to slow down just slightly; until she became more insistent that he move, so he watched her throw her head back and begin to moan, he moved a bit faster timing his climax to hers as they both let out a cry of pleasure when the tremors wracked both of them._

_They made love again before they fell asleep; and when the morning sun came through the front window of the cabin, the fire had died down to just glowing embers…_

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

"Reilly, you okay over there?" Nick asked, as he turned to smile at her in his glow of the bright pink paint that covered him from head to toe.

Reilly's face was a nice shade of pink itself, but Nick was willing to bet it had nothing to do with his eyes seeing only pink right now. She had been thinking of something… something that embarrassed her… he smiled. She had been thinking of them together… and he continued to smile at her.

AN: Please read and review; I was a little nervous about this chapter, but went with it as I wrote it.


	18. Chapter 18

08/29/2005 Monday Afternoon

Chapter Eighteen

Reilly brought her mind back to the present as she looked at Nick. He was standing there smiling at her like the cat that ate the canary. He knew what she'd been doing, standing there and thinking about them… together…

She chuckled to herself and brought her thoughts back to how they had gone that morning to Hillary's doctor appointment and Nick had given his blood for the test. She was proud that he was going to stand by Hillary if she was having his baby, too. And they'd decided together that they would be there even if Nick wasn't the father, because they'd also found out that morning from Hillary that Kevin didn't have a brain injury. He had a brain tumor.

It was operable, but the doctor had told them that they needed to be prepared for all possibilities, so Nick had told Hillary that no matter what, both he and Reilly were there for her. Kevin's surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning and Reilly was planning on sitting with Hillary while she waited.

Reilly sighed as she saw how both Nick and Sam were going all out on the pink stuff and it was totally getting out of hand as she walked into the room they were painting a really bright blinding pink. Nick was still smiling wickedly at her and she blushed even deeper.

"You two realize that you're going to give this baby a blinding headache with all this pink don't you? I mean, I think you could have gone for some pastels in the rainbow of colors I know were also available at the paint store." Reilly laughed as she noted that it appeared they probably had more paint on themselves than on the walls.

Reilly had just gotten back from her appointment with Dr. Warren, which she'd attended alone, because Sam had wanted to get started on the painting. Nick had been leery of missing the appointment, but Reilly had told him she would have others and not to worry, so he had relented and let her go alone; and because he hadn't been there he didn't know the latest news. No one did and Reilly was going to keep this news a secret for now. She didn't want to upset anyone right now until it was a sure thing anyway.

The nurse _had _suspected something during her sonogram and Dr. Warren had confirmed the possibility, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure, so he had scheduled her for another sonogram in two weeks. Reilly wasn't saying anything until after that appointment. Like before she wanted to wait until it was an absolute before disrupting their lives again.

"Mom! you can't be in here with the paint fumes! Get out right this minute or I'll have Nick carry you out!" Sam yelled over 'Boot Scootin' Boogie' blaring from the radio they had set up in the corner for entertainment while they worked. They had purchased non-toxic paint, but Sam wasn't taking anything for granted; she had hoped they'd be done before Reilly returned, but they were running a little behind.

"Oh, now that sounds like fun!" Nick said as he dropped his roller brush and headed for Reilly. He gathered her in his arms and casually lifted her off her feet and moved her out of the room and back into the hallway, leaving her smeared with pink paint on her clothes and arms as he rubbed his body against hers. "Where were your thoughts a moment ago, princess?" He asked softly just for her ears. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips.

Reilly couldn't help but giggle like a schoolgirl at him. The man did know her. "Ummm, just thinking… which reminds me, I was just wondering, how did you become so adept at removing a bra in less than a second?" She looked up into his deep brown eyes as she wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Ummm?"

He laughed out loud at that and snuggled tight against her. "I'll never tell!" And that was when they both felt the baby move.

Both of them froze at that moment when the baby moved between them and Nick's eyes got round with the shock and surprise. "She kicked me!" He laughed as he pulled away slightly to put his palms across Reilly's slightly poofy stomach.

Reilly was almost in her fourth month now and while not really showing she had begun to start feeling the tiny flutters of movement from the baby as she began floating around in her home. Even though it was a little early, Reilly suspected she knew why the baby was moving earlier than usual and she was happy with that thought. But this was the first time she'd moved this much and it had been strong enough for Nick to feel it too. The look on his face was priceless. Reilly looked over at Sam and saw the look of happiness mixed with sadness cross her face. "Do you want to feel too?" She asked her firstborn.

Sam looked up and at first Reilly thought she was going to come running over, but instead she stayed put and said, "No. Nick should be there, not me."

Reilly started to object, but Nick beat her to it. "That's ridiculous, this is your sister. Get your butt over here and feel her move." He said to her as he beamed from ear to ear.

Sam smiled so big, Reilly thought she'd break her face. "Thank you, Nick." She said, as she threw one arm around him and used her other hand to pat Reilly's tummy.

"You guys are something else." Reilly said, smiling at them. She felt better that Sam was forgiving Nick and he was being sure he included Sam in things. One way or another, they were going to be a family and Reilly loved that thought.

Just then Nick's phone rang. He pulled away from Reilly to reach for it on the dresser just inside the room. "Looks like Grissom. I'm on call today so either something bad has come up or someone called in or both." He looked at Reilly disappointed; he'd had hopes of having a rousing discussion and possibly some demonstrations on the attributes of quick bra removal techniques. He smiled to himself; he'd have to wait.

"Answer the phone Nick, it's your job. I'll finish the room and then you can put the crib together tomorrow." Sam said, happily. "I'm not touching those five hundred and fifty pieces of Chinese technology." She laughed.

"Funny." Nick said smiling as he turned and walked out of the room to answer his call.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The woman walked into The Excalibur Hotel and headed straight for the elevator to the penthouse floor. She was occupying one of the best suites in the hotel. She had finished conducting her business early and everything had been set in motion this morning. The crime had been staged and she knew that her new favorite CSI would be responding to the scene soon if he hadn't already and by this time tomorrow she would have the prize in her hands and no one would interfere again. Transportation and stocking of the warehouse had been taken care of. She'd left the backpack with the necessary information and cell phone in the alley he'd told her about and all she needed now was to contact her sister and await her arrival. Her brother would be contacting her when he was able.

She smiled as she exited the elevator. Yes by this time tomorrow they would have Nick Stokes and her sister would have her revenge. Her brown eyes twinkled as she hummed to herself while entering her hotel room. He husband's money was able to buy the best, and she loved this hotel, but her husband had just about used up his usefulness and she would have to eliminate him soon. She had plans for her brother to take care of that, too. Soon she would be rid of any ties to him and his looney family.

She had only married into the family to get closer to the man she had her sites set on. Nick Stokes had ties to that family and her husband had been oblivious to those ties until recently. Everything had worked out and now it was time to begin cleaning up the loose ends. Yes, by this time tomorrow she would have her sister back with her and she would have Nick, then she'd be a pretty young widow with a very rich bank account. She smiled as she walked over to the liquor cabinet and poured herself a drink.


	19. Chapter 19

08/29/2005 Late Monday afternoon into early evening

Chapter Nineteen

"Whatta we got, Jim?" Nick asked slamming the passenger door of the Tahoe as Warrick exited the driver's side. Both men had been called in early due to a manpower shortage. Two CSIs from swing shift had called in sick and there was a possible 4-19 at the Clark County Detention Center, so Grissom had sent Nick and Warrick to meet up with Brass and Vega.

Jim Brass was leaning against his car, waiting for the two men to arrive. He joined them as they walked up to the center's guard stationed at the main entrance gate. "Hey, Nicky. We got Matthew Waller… prisoner… whacked over the head… and get this… the weapon appears to be a book. Nice hefty one, I'm guessing. He's already on his way to the morgue. He was still breathing but died en route to the hospital. Sara's at the hospital going over the victim and will follow up at the morgue." Brass flashed his badge at the guard and the three headed for the north community room where the incident had happened. "How's Reilly and the little one doing?" Brass asked as they entered the building.

"Great. Hey, let me show you her first picture." Nick fished in his CSI vest pocket and produced his worn copy of his baby girl's sonogram. He was thrilled to be showing it off again.

"Oh, my God, don't get him started on that. We'll never get away without hearing all about her heartbeat and how she's already kicking." Warrick said, laughing in spite of himself.

"Don't listen to him Nick. He's just jealous you're so happy. Maybe this will encourage him and Tina to surprise us next with a little one." Brass said laughing along.

"Yeah. Rick, think about giving my girl a playmate." Nick said smiling.

"Wow. A book you say? Must have been War and Peace." Warrick joked, trying to change the subject as they followed Brass and checked their weapons with the officer at the front desk. The officer checked their ID's and then locked their weapons in a wall safe located behind his desk and pushed a clipboard across the desktop for them to sign in. "Do we have any suspects?"

Brass laughed at Warrick as he handed Nick back his picture and said, "You're wearing this out Nick." Then he poked Warrick with his elbow. "Changing the subject isn't going to make a difference you know.

Nick looked down at his well worn copy of his baby girl. "I know. Reilly told me earlier she has another sonogram scheduled so I'll have a new picture to show you guys, but…" He ran his fingers lovingly over the picture in his hand.

"But the first one is special." Brass added for him, knowing just what was going through Nick's mind. He smiled and patted him on the back. "Then keep it close Nicky." He turned and answered Warrick's earlier question. "Yeah, we have about twenty of them, prisoners and guards. Vega's already interviewing the guards. Seems everyone from this section of the jail was in the community room today. Big game on the TV and there were quite a few guards in here as well. Funny how no one saw anything, though. Not even the guards." Brass added as he ran his hand over his head in concentration.

"Twenty? Great. That'll take all shift." Nick said without any enthusiasm, as he pocketed his picture and his CSI ID and clipped his white visitor's badge to his vest. He picked up his kit preparing to follow Brass as he led them down a hall and into the community room where thirteen men wearing orange jumpsuits were lined up against the right side of the room while Nick counted ten uniformed officers positioned in different locations throughout the room. On the left side of the room was a man in a suit standing beside a long conference style table that was set up to hold the CSIs' supplies as they began their work. The only item on the table so far was a large encyclopedia-sized book bagged and already marked. In the far left corner, Vega sat at a small table taking notes while interviewing a guard.

"No one saw anything at all?" Warrick asked after Brass introduced the suited man as Roger Coleman, night supervisor. He would provide identification of all prisoners and guards present at the time of the crime.

"No. None of the guards saw anything out of place until they saw Waller's feet on the floor after the inmates had jumped up during a big game play. Next thing they knew everyone was fighting and throwing punches whether it was over the game or Waller, we haven't been able to ascertain as of yet. One of the guards was able to hit the lock down button and get more guards in here to control the inmates." Coleman said, supplying as much information as he had so far. "The book was found under one of the couches and it has blood and hair on the spine. We are assuming it was used, because it got in here somehow, but it could have just as easily been any of these guys own hands that did the trick, the way they're built." He said as he pointed to the prisoners standing across the room.

"So, we figure to get DNA off the book?" Nick asked as he took in the sight of the book. "Who bagged this anyway?"

"One of the guards did. I had him glove up and bag it to get it safely away while the medics worked on Waller. We've already checked and it's one of our books here from the library, but our records indicate that it was not currently checked out. We're not sure how it got from the library to here. It's also a possibility that the book is covered in dozens of fingerprints since it is a library book." Coleman answered.

Warrick reached out and picked the book up. "War and Peace." He chuckled as he eyed Nick. "Told you."

Nick looked at Coleman dubiously. "A lot of your inmates read 'War and Peace'?"

Coleman looked at him and chuckled, "You'd be surprised what these guys ask to read in here."

Nick laughed as well. "Probably." He turned to speak to Warrick. "Okay, so we're swabbing I assume?"

"Looks like it." Warrick set his kit on the table and Nick followed suit. They both opened their kits and proceeded to glove up. "Okay who's swabbing and who's writing?" He asked Nick.

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Coin toss or…" He trailed off, smiling.


	20. Chapter 20

08/29/2005 Same day

Chapter Twenty

Warrick smiled as both men lifted their fisted left hands and proceeded to shake them three times to throw rock, paper or scissors. Warrick smiled as he held paper to Nick's rock. "Looks like you're swabbing and I'm writing."

"How come I always lose to you?" Nick asked good-naturedly.

"Just lucky, I guess." Warrick replied, smiling at his friend. He remembered just 3 months ago winning the coin toss that had left Nick on his own when he was kidnapped and buried alive. It still bothered Warrick that his friend had taken the hit when it could have just as easily been him. He got busy pulling out log sheets to begin copying down information that would correspond with the buccal swabs Nick would collect; his mind back on the task at hand.

Detective Vega came over after finishing with his last interview and stood next to Brass discussing with him what little he was able to determine. Vega felt something was definitely out of place here. A murder in county lockup was unusual; men got into heat of the moment fights, prepared to kill their opponents, that was common, but they didn't plot murder using a book as the murder weapon.

The circumstances of this killing, the supposed murder weapon, no witnesses in a room full of people; this was odd. Things weren't adding up.

Nick smiled as he watched Warrick go to work; he knew Warrick still blamed himself for Nick's kidnapping, but Nick knew it was just fate. Things always seemed to happen to him and he hated that, but he couldn't let it get to him every time something went wrong with the job.

He went to work himself as he laid out thirteen bags and swabs in preparation of swabbing the prisoners. He sighed as he looked up and down the line of prisoners. They all looked capable of pounding someone into the ground with just on e pile drive from their tattooed arms, but Nick tried hard to reserve any judgment. Hopefully, the DNA testing would give them their man.

"We're swabbing the guards too, right?" Nick asked Brass.

"Yeah. Looks like a given in this instance since no one knows exactly what happened. We need to hit all the bases here. Vega couldn't get much from the guards, so we need everything we can get." He answered. "Something's not right about this whole thing; it's off somewhere."

Nick nodded as he pulled seven more bags and swabs from Warrick's kit this time. "Okay, looks like we're ready to go."

Coleman stepped forward with his clipboard listing of the prisoners and the guards. "I've got everyone that was in the room listed here and I've already set aside a copy for you." He said as he readied himself to start calling off names for the CSIs.

Nick picked up the first swab, unclipped the lid and motioned for the first man in line, a dark bald African-American man in his mid fifties, to step forward. He walked over to Nick and Nick couldn't help but see the guy was a good head taller than him.

"Carpenter, Michael… ID# CAR 81305." Coleman read from his list.

Nick wrote the number on the baggie while Warrick wrote down the full name and number on his log sheet. The prisoner moved closer to Nick and stood with his mouth open before even being asked. He knew the drill and whatever it too, he wanted it over so he could get back to his cell.

Nick swabbed the inside of the man's cheek, pushed the swab in the tube and snapped the lid closed before dropping it in the labeled baggie, sealing it and handing it to Warrick who took it and stowed it in the evidence kit.

Coleman announced the next man in line as Jameson, Lawrence ID JAM 80401. Jameson was a short middle aged man with a biker's beer belly and a beard that rivaled any of the members of ZZ Top. He approached Nick and opened his mouth with a big yawn and Nick noticed the man was in desperate need of some major dental care. He couldn't help but turn his head towards Warrick and away from the smell.

Warrick laughed out loud as Nick handed him the bagged swab to add to the other evidence. _I am so gonna get you for this one way or another; _Nick's stare told Warrick.

Nick turned back to the next prisoner Taylor, Walter ID# TAY 80904. Taylor was a very tall very lanky bony guy with long greasy blonde hair hanging from a single braid down his back. He couldn't be more than twenty-three if he was a day, Nick thought. He looked like he had a nervous condition and Nick figured it was drug withdrawal.

The man had the shakes big time, but he stepped forward and opened his mouth after the guard prompted him. Nick swabbed and handed the evidence to Warrick. Next was Smith, John ID# SMI 71807. John was of average height and looked more like a mercenary, than a criminal. His hair was dark and cut in a crew cut. Nick was willing to bet his life on the guy being ex-military army ranger/navy seal type. He had that hard edge of battle weariness all over him. Nick figured this guy was trouble; the quiet ones usually were. They continued on until they were up to the ninth prisoner.

"Thompson, Christopher ID# THO 81213." Coleman called out as a white man roughly the same size as the Chrysler Building stepped over to Nick.

Nick's own mouth dropped open as he took in the building standing in front of him. To say the guy was huge was an understatement; the guy made Michael Clarke Duncan look like the runt of the litter. The guy was bald with dark blue eyes and no facial hair, but enough tattoos to warrant giving him his own ethnic skin color classification of multi-toned. There didn't seem to be a part of the man's visible body that wasn't inked in some way. But the most impressive tattoo the man had was on his bald head where it appeared as if the skin had been peeled back to reveal the man had an American flag wrapped around his skull.

Nick expected the man to give him trouble, but when he asked him to open his mouth, he surprised Nick by doing just that. Nick reached out and swabbed the man's cheek and was in the middle of bagging the tube, when Warrick started to ask him something.

"Nick, how abou-" Warrick froze as Nick turned around to look at him.

Nick saw the change in Warrick's face as his eyes widened just an instant before Nick felt something tightening around his neck. Whatever was wrapped around him was squeezing hard and it was pulling him backwards away from Warrick. Nick reached out to grab at Warrick, but he was being pulled back up against something hard and solid. He dropped the swab and tried to claw at whatever was wrapped around his throat. He was losing air fast and he couldn't dislodge whatever was holding him.

Suddenly he felt the pressure of a hand on the left side of his head and he realized that Christopher Thompson had him in a choke hold. _Oh God, he thought _as he struggled to get free, but struggled struggling was useless; he was growing weaker from the lack of oxygen and the blood supply to his brain was slowing down. He could feel his heart beating in his eardrums as he felt his blood pressure rising. He was in trouble, big trouble. Around the throbbing noise in his head, he heard Thompson yell next to his right ear.

"Nobody moves! I mean it! Anybody moves and I'll break this cop's fuckin' neck!"


	21. Chapter 21

08/29/2005 Same day

Chapter Twenty-One

Thompson let up on the pressure he had on Nick's throat a little, but he still held him tight. Nick's eyes were taking in the room around him as he continued to claw at the beefy man's arm around his neck. He wasn't able to get enough oxygen in to speak; he was barely getting enough to breathe. The guards were the only ones with guns in the room, and while three of them were holding the other prisoners at gunpoint, the remaining guards were all pointing their guns at Nick.

"All of you, back off! Now!" Thompson yelled at the guards pointing their weapons at him and Nick. "Now!" He repeated. "You want your guy to live then back the fuck off right now!"

When the guards didn't back off, Thompson responded by tightening his grip on Nick's throat with his right arm and pushing into his head with his left. This caused Nick's head to be pushed dangerously into the hold Thompson had and could inevitably break his neck. The pain and the lack of precious oxygen caused Nick to cry out as he renewed his efforts to claw his way free. This was not going to end well, Nick was thinking.

"I said now!" Thompson thundered at them.

The guards looked at Brass and Coleman for instructions. Coleman nodded and the guards relented and stepped back lowering their weapons. Coleman took a step back from Brass and Vega. He was silently putting Brass in charge.

"Look, Chris… let's talk about-" Brass started to say, but he was quickly cut off.

"I want all the guns on the table! Guns now!"

Brass looked at Coleman, but he realized he wasn't going to give that order. Brass knew that the last thing a police officer was supposed to do was give up his weapon; they all knew once they gave up their only advantage, they would all be in trouble. But this was Nick and Brass was willing to do whatever it took to get his man back. Nick had been through enough lately.

"Do it!" Brass yelled at the guards, since Coleman was not going to be responsible for the order. The guards in front slowly put their guns on the table next to the CSIs' kits. They all realized that Brass was taking chare now.

"The other guards over there, their guns too! Now!" Thompson said, even though his back was to them, he knew that they hadn't yet done so. Thompson followed Brass and Vega's movements to give him an indication of whether the remaining guards were following his orders. When he heard one of the guards approaching, he turned slightly to be sure no one could sneak up on him and the slight movement caused Nick to respond with another yelp of pain as it caused his air to be completely cut off.

When the guard had put all their guns on the table, Thompson eased his hold on Nick once again and allowed a little more oxygen to get to his brain. Nick practically sucked in the air through his teeth. Nick had never realized just how much one take's breathing for granted.

"Okay, Chris, it's done… just let my man go." Brass said as he tried to bargain with the guy again.

"No way!" Thompson yelled. "Okay, Larry-John, are you with me here?" He asked, singling out two of the other prisoners behind him. John Smith and Lawrence Jameson both came forward and helped themselves to the guards' guns.

"You got it, Chris." Jameson replied as he walked over to stand by Thompson, keeping the other prisoners and those guards in his sight. Smith just nodded as he pointed a gun at the remaining guards, Brass, Vega, Warrick and Coleman in front.

"Now, did you come in a cop car or your own car?" Thompson asked Nick.

Nick couldn't get enough oxygen to calm himself down let alone try and answer the man. "They came in a CSI car, Chris. You want out of here? You let him go… and I'll get you the keys to any car you want." Vega said slowly, keeping his hands up in front of him as he spoke. He looked at Brass and he slowly nodded his agreement.

"You think I'm fuckin' stupid? You get your guy after we get out of here, not one second before. Now give up the keys!" Thompson ordered. When no one moved to comply, Thompson squeezed his hold on Nick again causing him to jerk and gasp out loud. "I'll break his neck – I meant it – keys now!"

Nick's arms clawed at the heavy arm around his throat as it tightened. The pressure was becoming unbearable. He was barely keeping it together here. How could he have gotten into this situation? He had the worst luck ever. He thought of Reilly, pregnant with his baby; would he get to see her again? Would he get to see his baby being born? Oh God, he thought, please help me here.

"Stop! Here's the keys!" Warrick said, digging in his pocket for the keys and tossing them on the table. Larry rushed forward and snatched them up quick as a flash. "Let my man go! You have everything you need!" Warrick yelled trying to keep Nick's eyes connected to his. _I'm trying bro…hang in there…we'll get you out of this…I promise. _Nick's eyes told Warrick he was scared and he was about to lose it. _Come on man hang in there for me, buddy._

Thompson ignored Warrick and instead yelled at one of the guards. "You – give him your cuffs! Now!" He nodded at Larry who stepped forward as the guard held out his handcuffs to the bearded man. Larry took the cuffs and handed them to Thompson who removed his left hand from Nick's head to reach out and take them. "Keep them covered!" He said as he eyed Brass and Vega. He knew which ones were the biggest threats and right now Warrick didn't even rank.

Smith and Jameson kept their guns trained on the men in the room. During this whole exchange none of the other prisoners had made a move to help or to even leave. They were just standing in the lineup watching the exchange. This was just another day to them.

Thompson finally removed his right arm from around Nick's throat and grabbing him by the back of his vest as he pushed him down face first on the conference table, far enough away from Brass and Vega.

Nick gasped with relief when he was able to drag in several large gulps of blessed air, but when he realized what Thompson planned on doing he turned his eyes to look at Brass standing a few feet from him. Thompson held Nick place on the table with a hand on his back between his shoulder blades while he used his other hand to reach for Nick's right hand and pull it behind him. Nick felt the cold bite of the metal cuff slip around his wrist and snap tightly shut. Nick kept eye contact with Brass. _Listen…Jim…tell Reilly…I love her…please. 'Cause, oh shit, I'm so screwed here, I'm not gonna make it out of this one… Please! _

He tried to convey his thoughts to Brass as he felt his left hand pulled back and being cuffed as well. _Brass… man… this is not going to end well for me… This cannot be happening again!_

AN: Please read and review - I would love to know how I'm doing.

Thank you!


	22. Chapter 22

08/29/2005 Same Day

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Look man, take me instead. Leave him here. He's got a baby on the way." Warrick pleaded with Thompson. He had seen the look in Nick's eyes. He knew how hard this would be for Nick after he'd been kidnapped by Walter Gordon. He knew Nick was resigning himself to the inevitable and that scared Warrick more than losing his friend. He felt Nick was going to give up, and he couldn't do that. He had a baby on the way. _It should be me instead of Nick. God, he's had to go through too much already. It should be me!_

Thompson ignored Warrick as he patted Nick down removing his cell phone and tossing it on the table. He wasn't going to take any chances here. A forgotten cell phone could ruin this whole thing and they'd worked too hard to get to this point.

Brass looked at Jameson and Smith. Neither man looked like they'd give anything up, but Brass needed to try. "John… you don't need to do this, you're gonna end up dead. Come on man, give it up."

Smith looked at Brass and he smiled as he replied, "Wrong man… dude. I'm only interested in getting out of here and I don't give a damn about anyone or anything. Especially _your _man. You picked the wrong con to plead your case to." His tone was like steel, and Brass couldn't hide his wince at the words.

Thompson held out a hand to Smith and said, "Good John. Now give me one of those guns and let's take all of them with us. We wouldn't want anyone shooting us in the back when we get out of here."

Smith handed him one of the two guns he was holding and reached for another one off the table stuffing it inside his jumpsuit and then taking up another to replace the one he'd given Thompson. Jameson did the same with the remaining guns on the table.

Thompson grabbed Nick by one arm and pulled him back against his chest as he now placed his gun up under Nick's chin. Then he said to Coleman. "You… call the other guards and tell them we're leaving and they'd better not fuckin' try to stop us or your man will be the first to die out there. And I'll make sure he gets ventilated real good before I go down."

Brass glanced at Coleman, daring him to try something. Coleman nodded and pulled his radio from his jacket pocket and spoke into it. "All units… repeat all units… Coleman Badge #11017… be advised… we have a code white… repeat code white… north rec-com room… police officer is code white… all units be advised to stand down… repeat stand down… Do not intervene… repeat do not intervene…"

"That's it?" Jameson asked, leery of falling into a trap.

"Yes. That's it." Coleman answered, keeping his voice neutral. He made eye contact with only Smith as he answered Jameson.

Thompson looked at Smith then Jameson. "Go check it out. I don't want any surprises." Thompson kept his grip on Nick and pressed the gun's barrel deeper into his throat.

Jameson went to the door and slowly opened it to reveal all the guards had moved to the opposite end of the hallway and held out their hands in surrender. Nick's heart was pounding as he realized that one way or another these guys were going to take him with them. He was going to die and he'd never see Reilly or his baby. He was afraid of dying, but he was more afraid of leaving Reilly alone to sort through his mess with their baby and possibly with Hillary. He had been trying, but he hadn't fixed everything yet. He needed to know his baby girl would be alright and that Reilly would be alright.

Jameson returned to Thompson's side, "All the guards are at the other end of the hall and are holding their hands up in surrender. Everything looks good."

Thompson grinned, "I guess we're out of here." He smiled as he pressed the gun hard up under Nick's chin causing Nick to wince in pain as he started moving him towards the door. "Larry you take point and John you flank us. We don't want any surprises here." Both men joined up to Thompson with Jameson taking the lead.

Nick was panicking now. _No…no…no…! This cannot be happening! I can't go with them! _He fought Thompson's pushing and turned a desperate eye to Brass once again. _Please Jim…help me…I don't want to die! Don't let them take me!_

"Jim!" Nick managed to get out as Thompson pushed him forward.

As the men neared the door, Brass shouted out, "This is your last chance, Thompson. You walk out that door with my guy, and I promise you, I won't stop till I've put you in a body bag and driven you to the morgue myself!"

Thompson chuckled, "It's bound to happen to me sooner or later… makes no difference to me who pulls the trigger… but I guarantee you this…if I go down, I'm taking as many of you pigs with me as I possibly can." He turned to look at Brass. "We clear the roads and I'll give 911 a call on where you can pick up your guy. Let's go!" He said as he pushed harder on Nick to get him moving.

As soon as the men cleared the building, Coleman grabbed his radio again. "All units… to the north rec-com room… now! Repeat… all units to the north rec-com room!" A few seconds later the guards from the hallway came in and secured the remaining prisoners.

Brass, Warrick and Vega ran from the building and watched the four men making their way out of the lot in Warrick's Tahoe. Warrick slammed his fist against the gate and yelled at Brass, "Damn it, Brass! What do we do now?! We can't just sit here and let Nick go! We have to get him back!"

"We'll get him…I mean it…I'm not resting till Nick is back with us, Rick." Brass reached into his pocket to call dispatch. "Dispatch, this is Captain Brass Badge # 984…I need an APB out for a county vehicle… 2004 Chevy Tahoe, Nevada license plate #..." Brass trailed on as Warrick tuned it all out; until he heard Brass add, "…Dispatch, be advised that CSI Nick Stokes – Charlie 05Stokes is a 4-18 hostage situation. Repeat 4-18 hostage CSI Nick Stokes – Charlie 05Stokes." Brass knew they would need to hurry; night was setting in and it would get harder to track them after dark.


	23. Chapter 23

08/29/2005 Same day into evening

Chapter Twenty-Three

The prisoners made their way to the parking lot with their hostage and went past the guards stationed at the front gate without any confrontation. The guards just stood back and watched them walk through. No one tried to stop them. Nick only watched as these guys kept forcing him onward towards the parking lot.

"Which car is yours?" Thompson said, gripping Nick's left arm tightly and waving the gun around hear his face.

Nick didn't respond; he'd decided if he was going to die, then so be it, but he wasn't going to do one damn thing to help them escape. Jameson stepped forward and pressed the remote button on the key ring. They heard the chirping and saw the lights blink on the black Tahoe parked directly in front of them.

"Must be getting a lot of the taxpayers money budgeted to the county for the police to afford the rides." Smith said as he and Larry ran to the vehicle.

"Let's go." Thompson said as he pushed Nick forward over to the left rear side of the car. Larry opened the door as Thompson said, "Get in."

Nick looked at each man and found all three had their guns trained on him. He couldn't escape this, no one was coming to help him; so he did what he was told, he got in the back seat of the car. Thompson reached into the car and pulled the seatbelt around Nick and buckled it, then he jogged around to the other side of the car and got in next to Nick keeping his gun trained on him.

Larry climbed into the driver's seat and John got in the shotgun seat. Once they were all in the car, John instructed Larry to head to the south exit of the parking lot.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Clark County Detention Center is located on Casino Center Blvd near the police and CSI buildings and no one saw the black Tahoe with its four occupants exit the parking lot and blend in with the city traffic. Brass and Warrick had already returned to the lab leaving Detective Vega on scene at the jail to secure all evidence that had yet to be processed. Warrick and Brass walked into the A/V lab to see what Grissom and Archie had on the tracking of the Tahoe.

Grissom looked up as the two men entered the lab where Grissom had Archie working several systems trying to track the Tahoe. He'd heard over the radio that it was Nick who had been taken and there was no way his crew would be stepping back from this one. Just as when Nick had been kidnapped and buried alive, Grissom was working this one. It was personal. Very personal.

"Griss, tell me you got something on Nicky." Brass said as he walked up to Grissom.

"We're trying, I've got Archie running every option available, but it looks like they've disabled both the LoJack and the GPS systems somehow. Both stopped transmitting at the south exit of the parking lot of the Detention Center. What the hell happened out there, Warrick?" Grissom said, frustration showing in his every word.

"Man, it all happened so fast; one of the inmates grabbed Nick from behind and used him as a shield and recruited two other inmates to help him with his jailbreak. I shouldn't have made Nick turn his back to the guy; I was just gonna ask him something, and the next thing I know, Nick's in a chokehold with the guy. It's all my fault." Warrick groaned.

"Hey guys, somehow these guys knew about the tracking systems and they knew how to disable them." Archie stated. "I've tried running the backup transmitter for the LoJack, and it won't respond either." He added.

"What?" Warrick questioned. "How is that even possible? No one should be able to disable the LoJack, it's run on a remote radio transmitter. They might be able to pull the regular GPS tracking system and get rid of it, but not the LoJack."

"Well, maybe they got information from Nick on the tracking possibilities. Maybe they forced it from him… somehow." Grissom said, not wanting to believe they would hurt Nick, but knowing it was highly possible. "Then again, they knew about the backup transmitter on the LoJack, so how did they disable both frequencies?" He asked himself.

"Oh, God… Griss, we have to find Nick. He can't go through something like this again. I can't let this happen to Nick again." Warrick said, feeling so damn frustrated.

"What do you mean, 'go through this again'?" All eyes turned towards the entrance to the room to see Reilly and Sam standing there with several bags in their hands.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Good job on disabling the LoJack, John… I learned something new. Must be a well kept secret; I never knew you could use lead mesh to jam the radio signals. Is that something you learned in the army?" Thompson spoke from the back seat as John got back in the car after disabling the tracking systems.

"Something like that… let's just say it's not something the cops want known." John turned and smiled at Nick.

"Okay, we found the mesh left for us and we're on our way without being tracked, so what's the game plan from here?" Thompson asked, keeping one eye on Nick and the other on the two men up front.

"We need to get out of town, but first we keep the meet in the morning, where we get rid our Mr. CSI guy here." Smith said, looking at Nick. "Till then we need to lay low."

Nick looked up to meet Smith's eyes. They were going to get rid of him. _I'm a dead man, but I knew that already. Nick thought. There's more than meets the eye here. _He turned back to look out the window; at least he could try and remember the route they were taking just in case by some miracle he were able to escape this. Something else stuck with Nick, too. Thompson was asking Smith what their next move was to be. Not the other way around.

"Take a left up here then a right at the next cross street. There's a bar on the left after that where something else should be waiting for us in the alley. It'll tell us where to go from here." John instructed Larry. "We need to dump this car though before too long. Even if the tracking is disabled , this big black SUV stands out as government issue all the way, not to mention the emergency lights can be seen if someone gets to close to us."

"Right. Okay, how about we find something in the bar's parking lot; take our pick from there." Larry asked, as he turned on the next street.

"Yeah. Sounds good. Do either of you know how to boost a car? My skills lean a bit more towards disciplinary security." Thompson joked. "Bouncer at a biker bar, that's my skill."

"Not a problem." Smith said, smiling again.

Nick listened as the group carried on, but felt his stomach drop when he realized they'd be leaving the Tahoe. He had hoped that the LoJack was still transmitting even if Smith had blocked it. There was always a chance the backup signal could still be picked up. He watched as Jameson pulled into the parking lot of the bar Smith had named. Jameson worked his way down the line of cars until he spotted one.

"How about this one?" He asked Smith as he neared an older model dark green Ford Bronco.

"Yeah. This is good. Too old for any kind of tracking device and big enough for all of us. Pull up alongside and let me out." Smith said eying the Bronco.

The Bronco was parked away from the front of the bar, so there was plenty of darkness to cover Smith and let him do his thing. He got out of the Tahoe and in less than two minutes they could see he had the engine of the car running and ready to go.

"Let's get out of here." Thompson said as he leaned over and undid Nick's seat belt and pulled him across the seat by the arm and out the Tahoe on his side.

"Hey, why don't you make it easier on yourself and just leave me here with the Tahoe, okay?" Nick said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. His throat was a little sore from the bruising he'd taken earlier during Thompson's chokehold.

"No way." Thompson replied still holding onto Nick.

"Come on, man. Just let me go here and you guys can be long gone before anyone finds me."

"No. You already heard some of our plans and you'll tell them what car we're in now." Thompson narrowed his eyes at Nick. "There's no way we're letting you go; we've got plans for you. Besides the whole reason I'm out of that stinking jail is because of you." Thompson actually smiled at Nick over that.

Nick looked up at that, confused. "What do you mean?"

"He wants to know what do I mean?" Thompson laughed as Jameson and Smith joined them.

"He means the whole thing with Waller, bringing in you CSI guys, it was all planned. We're delivering you to someone very special who's gonna pay us a bundle. Enough for us to get out of Nevada, probably head down to Mexico and live it up on a beach somewhere where no one will ever bother us again." Smith laughed at the look on Nick's face.

"You were paid to kidnap and deliver me to someone? Who?" Nick demanded. _What the hell was going on here? What did all this mean?_

"Just what we said. Someone wants your ass, pretty boy, and we were paid to deliver you one way or another. We don't care who or why, at least I don't anyway. All I want is to get paid and get out Las Vegas." Jameson sneered.

AN: The part about the lead mesh disabling the LoJack systems, I found this on the internet. I don't know if it will actually work, but I did ask my ex-brother-in-law who is a retired policeman and he said is it possible, but he had never seen it done.

Don't forget to send me those reviews. I need to know how I'm doing for my first story!

Thank you!


	24. Chapter 24

08/29/2005 Same day later in evening

Chapter Twenty-Four

"What do you mean, Rick? What's happened to Nick?" Reilly repeated as Sam took the bags they'd brought with them and sat them down on a table by the door to the room.

Warrick looked at Brass and Grissom, not sure what to do or say. He wasn't sure how to say this to Reilly. She'd been through Nick's first kidnapping with them all and she had helped them to hold up, but she hadn't been pregnant then. Now in her condition, well, he just didn't know how to tell her.

"Warrick Brown! Tell me what the hell you mean right now!" Reilly shouted at him as she came into the room.

"Reilly… it appears that Nick's been taken as a hostage during a jailbreak at the Detention Center." Grissom said, coming up to her. "You need to stay calm… and know we're working on finding him right now."

"We've got an APB out on the prisoners that took him, on the vehicle they were in and we're trying to track it right now." Brass said, bringing a stool over and starting to help Reilly sit down.

When she realized they were trying to keep her calm, she jerked free of Brass. "Don't you dare treat me like I'm made of glass Jim Brass. I'm fine, I just happen to be pregnant. I want to know what happened to Nick. I want to know everything. And I want to know it all now!" The investigator in her was taking over. She needed to put all of this into perspective. This was like any other case, Nick was the case and he was missing. And she was good at finding missing people. She just needed to know all the details and she could find him. That's what she did; find the missing.

Warrick walked over to her and took her hands in his. She met his eyes. She knew that this time she had much more invested personally than on any other case she'd worked; even her goddaughter's. She felt the burn of the tears as they slid from her eyes. She sank down onto the stool as Warrick followed her down crouching on his heels and he began at the beginning.

He had to give Reilly credit; even though he felt her stiffen, she hung onto his every word and waited until he'd told her everything before she started asking questions. The right questions. She was thinking like a detective and Warrick knew it was her way of keeping herself under control. They needed to find Nick and to do that they would need to know every detail inside and out. One way or another, they needed to be sure all the bases were covered.

"Okay." Reilly said taking a deep breath. "So what now? If Nick can't be tracked then where do we go from here?" She asked looking from Warrick to Brass to Grissom. "Have you checked on why Waller was killed? I mean, come on, prisoners get in fights all the time even over a game play, but they're gonna use their fists to settle an argument, not a book. The book is a red herring; it's out of place in this picture."

Grissom smiled; he knew Reilly was smart, but she was latching on way quicker than most professionals would. "I agree; the book does not belong. So therefore, it's there for a different reason."

Reilly looked at Grissom as she thought that through. "Right, the book isn't a red herring; it is important. It's just not the murder weapon. It was put there for a reason, a purpose; and I'm getting the very real feeling that the murder was a cover or a possible means to an end. Waller was collateral damage; the jailbreak was the real crime here."

"Yes, that's what I think." Brass added.

"So what we do now is go back to the scene of that crime. Warrick, you and Brass go back to the jail, meet up with Catherine. I already sent her there. I'll send Greg to help Sara at the hospital with Waller's body. We'll find something." Grissom instructed.

"I don't mean to interrupt or sound stupid or anything, but why would CSI need to swab the prisoners?" Sam asked as she stepped up behind her mother.

"What do you mean?" Brass asked, slightly confused by the question.

"I mean, these guys are already in jail; isn't their DNA already on a file somewhere? Why would you need it again when you can just pull it out of the computer and run it against the DNA found on the book?"

Reilly looked at Grissom and the two slowly smiled as they both realized the same thing. "Good question, Sam." Reilly said. "Inmates in prison have already been convicted of the crimes they were charged with, so we can legally run their DNA when checking against unsolved cases; but inmates in the county jail have not already been convicted of the crimes they are charged with, so we have to swab to obtain their DNA legally for any new crimes that are either unsolved or happen in their presence. It's a part of their legal rights, innocent until proven guilty."

"And not many people know that fact." Warrick added as he realized the same thing.

"So bringing in CSI to work a crime scene at the jail was planned. Whoever planned this, knew CSI had to come and take DNA samples if DNA is found at the crime scene, and they wanted that to happen." Brass finished for all them.

"Which means?" Sam asked, still out of the loop.

"Which means that either Nick or Warrick were targeted to begin with. Or whichever CSI showed up at the scene. Waller was a means to an end and those escaped prisoners knew CSI would respond and that's what they wanted." Reilly replied. "CSI was the target here."

"Nick or Warrick were the targets. We were short staffed and Sara, Catherine and Greg were already working doubles on another case. When the two from swing shift called in, that meant I had to call Nick and Warrick in early for the assault at the jail. Who ever planned this knew they would be the ones called in." Grissom added.

"But why me or Nick?"

"That's what we need to find out." Reilly answered as she turned to Brass. "I want to help, Jim. I'll stay here in the lab, but I need to be a part of this. I can't sit this out and watch. You know I can help."

Brass heaved a huge sigh. "Okay, yeah, but you stay in the lab. You do not go off on your own here." He answered.

Grissom and Warrick exchanged slightly surprised looks at how quickly Brass gave in to Reilly. She wasn't a cop, just a consultant and she wasn't even here in a legal capacity, so they didn't understand why he agreed to let her join the investigation.

"I can help Gil, trust me." Reilly said, as she saw the look between him and Warrick. "You know me, Jim… I always follow orders." She added.

"Right." Both Brass and Sam said in unison.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick found himself again sitting in another car with the three men who were using him as a hostage. They had switched vehicles and had left the bar's parking lot without a soul seeing them, or so they thought. As they pulled out of the parking lot and headed into the alley, Nick did not look back to see if anyone may find the sonogram picture of his baby daughter that he'd managed to pull from his vest pocket and drop by the Tahoe. The picture was labeled with Reilly's chart number and the words 'Baby Girl Stokes'. Hopefully they'd figure out why he had left the picture over anything else.

And because he didn't look back, Nick missed seeing the young woman who had come out of the bar and had been walking towards her car, a green Bronco. She saw the men push another man into her car and she saw the same man drop something. She had retreated to the shadows to silently watch as her car drove away with the man who looked to be a far from willing participant judging by his secured hands. She reached into her bag for her cell, and as she dialed 9-1-1 she walked over to the picture lying on the ground.

The witness missed seeing the Bronco stop in the alley behind the bar and one of the men get out and dig around near the bar's dumpster before grabbing what looked to be a dark colored backpack and then quickly return to her waiting car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Brass." Jim answered his cell as he and Warrick were getting into his car to head back to the Detention Center and finish processing the earlier crime scene as well and work on the new crime scene involving the jailbreak. Catherine was already there waiting for them.

Warrick couldn't make out the caller's words, but his ears picked up at Jim's side of the conversation. Someone had found something and it lead to Nick.

"What? Where?" Jim paused listening to the caller. "Are you sure it says Stokes?" Jim paused again, listening to the response. "I'm in my car with Brown. We'll be there in less than ten minutes. Get Vega to meet us there. "He ended the call and then he pushed the speed dial button to call Grissom. While he waited for Grissom to answer, he turned to Warrick. "A green Ford Bronco was just reported stolen and they found Reilly's sonogram picture at the scene along with the Tahoe." When Grissom answered, Jim passed along the same information to him. "Me and Warrick are headed over there. I'll have him process this new scene and you might want to pull Greg from Sara and have him go to the jail and meet up with Catherine. And Gil… we got a witness."

Warrick clenched his jaw as he frantically kept thinking, where the hell was Nick. "If they've switched cars, it'll be harder to find them. I don't see how anything at the scene would tell us anything else other than what we already know. They pulled over, stole another car, Nick dropped the picture maybe by accident. Dead end. Nicky's out there and we've lost him again."

"Rick, you need to get a grip here. Something is going to help us, I feel it. We just got to hand in there. I'm not a science guy, but I know you guys always amaze me with what you can seemingly pull out of thin air. You know as well as I do that Nick's hanging in there, so we have to hang in there. If he dropped that picture it was on purpose, there's a reason for it. You know how important it is to him and if he was afraid of dying, he'd have that picture glued to his chest. No one would have gotten it off him." Jim said flatly. "The witness said he was alive and he's the one who dropped it. We do not give up here; we do our jobs and we find Nick. That's it. And besides, we have Reilly working for our side on this, so I like our odds."

"Yeah." Warrick chuckled softly. "I almost feel sorry for Thompson when Reilly gets her hands on him."

AN: Please don't forget to read and review. I love that everyone is liking the story so far and I'm trying to update everyday, but I have to work sometimes! So that makes it hard to write, but I'm getting there. And I have a lot more surprises planned!


	25. Chapter 25

08/29/2005 Late evening into early morning 08/30/2005

Chapter Twenty-Five

Nick sat quietly as he watched them stop at one of the large warehouses in the industrial section of Vegas not too far from the bar; he figured maybe two miles from the bar. Smith got out and made short work of the big padlock and chain holding the door closed. He rolled the door back and Jameson drove the Bronco into the building and parked while Smith pulled the chain and padlock from the outside of the door and used them to secure it from the inside. Nick took in every detail, down to the smallest thing. The CSI in him was watching and tucking information away for later processing.

Like why hide out less than two miles from where you just boosted a car? Why boost a car if you've got a place to hide out? The fact they even boosted another ride told Nick they'd had no idea where they were going to hide out until they'd picked up that backpack, which meant their hide out had been selected for them from someone on the outside.

"Okay, it's time to get settled in for the night, pretty boy." Thompson said as he again reached over and undid Nick's seatbelt and pulled him out his side of the car.

This is getting old, Nick thought, as he allowed himself to be pulled across the seat and out of the car. Nick saw once he was out of the car that the warehouse must have been used for storage at one time, because there were shelves and shelves of crates and boxes to his left. To his right he saw three doors, probably offices and a bathroom. He also noted that there were two other vehicles already parked in the warehouse; a white F150 late model Ford pickup and a late model red Chevy Envoy SUV.

"The first room is the bathroom. The middle room is a storage room with a cot where Mr. CSI guy is staying the night and the third is an office with two more cots. We have running water, lights and food. We'll take shifts." Smith said rattling off the information as if it was committed to memory.

"Okay, we're gonna need to be sure he's secured; I'm not gonna just lock him in the room and hope for the best." Thompson stated still holding onto Nick's arm. He was in no hurry to let him go. He was money in the bank after all.

"Not a problem. There's everything we need in the storage room. He'll be nice and comfy for the night."

"I need to use the bathroom first." Nick said, speaking up for the first time since finding out why they'd grabbed him.

Smith raised an eyebrow at Nick, but simply replied, "Jameson, you can take him to the bathroom. There aren't any windows; only one way in. He can't do nothing." He smiled at Nick.

Nick was getting sick and tired of that guy and his smile. "My name's Nick." Nick said, but he didn't really care what they called him. He just wanted to let them know he was still here in mind, not just in body.

"Oh…kay Nick. I'll try and remember that." Smith said as he watched Jameson lead Nick away to the first door on their right.

Outside the bathroom, Jameson uncuffed Nick's hands and made him take off his vest and empty his pockets. "Okay. Hurry up. You got two minutes and then I come in whether you're done or not." He said, pushing Nick into the room. He dropped Nick's things on the floor by the door and forgot about them.

Nick shut the door behind him and looked around the room, but Smith was right. There were no windows, just a toilet and a sink. Nothing. There was a mirror over the sink, but it wasn't made of glass, it was some kind of metal or chrome, so it was of no use to him. _What am I gonna do now? _Nick gulped as his stomach churned.

He went about his business and washed his hands, looking at himself in the sort of mirror. His neck showed multiple red and purple bruises from the chokehold. And he had a bruise on the left side of his face, he was assuming from the pressure of Thompson's hand.

_Get a grip here, Stokes. Hang in there. Everyone's looking for you and Reilly needs you. So you gotta hang in there. _Nick didn't know much about what was going on here, but one thing he did know; Christopher Thompson wasn't running this show. John Smith was the man in charge here.

Something else registered with Nick just then; if Reilly was on this she would not rest till she found him and that brought a smile to his lips. His woman would not stop till she found all of them and he almost felt sorry for these guys when Reilly got a hold of them. Almost, he smiled to himself. He braced himself with that thought as he reached for the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sara Sidle moved about the evidence table looking at everything she'd gotten at the hospital from the inmate, Matthew Waller before and after he had died. There wasn't much, but she did have the x-rays the doctor had ordered of Waller's skull when he was first brought to the ER and they were surprising.

The doctor was adamant that Waller was not killed with a book. He didn't care if it was War and Peace, no book did this damage. He felt that Waller had been struck with a small blunt object like a hand tool of some kind like a wrench; that was the doctor's best guess. That alone meant that there was something wrong with the scene at the jail.

She was still waiting on the preliminary autopsy report to verify exactly what the wound looked like so she could determine the weapon used. Catherine and Greg soon joined her in the room with the evidence they'd collected from the community room and Waller's jail cell. Nothing there even remotely could be identified as a small blunt object.

Greg picked up the book and looked it over. It was still bagged and tagged as it had been when Warrick and Nick first saw it. "How would anyone even use a book to hit someone? Even if the book is big and heavy enough, it's awkward to hold in an offensive way to cause any damage. I can see throwing the book at someone and causing damage, but that would change the perception of the book and where DNA would be left behind."

"I know. But the book is important. It's definitely a clue of some kind." Catherine took the book from Greg and seeing as she was already gloved up, she removed it from the bag. She thumbed through a few of the pages stopping somewhere around the middle of the book when a piece of scrap paper fluttered out. She picked it up and read it. "One mill 9am Tuesday."

"What does that mean?" Sara asked, taking a look at the paper over Catherine's shoulder. "How is it going to get Nick back?" She added as Catherine looked at her and saw the shimmer of unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

"We'll get him back." Catherine said softly.

"Look today is Tuesday, but just barely. 9AM is a little over eight hours away and assuming today is the Tuesday mentioned then what is one mill?" Greg replied, as Sara's cell phone rang.

Sara stepped away from the table as she answered her phone.

"Maybe it's a factory or a warehouse of some kind or maybe it's an actual mill?" Catherine asked as she thought. "Maybe it's a shortened version of a name or a street address or something like that."

"I'll check with Archie and see if he can locate any businesses or addresses with any references to the word 'mill'. I also have the visitor logs for Thompson, Jameson, Smith and Waller. I'll have him cross-reference the lists and see if they have anything or anyone in common." Greg pulled on a pair of gloves and reached for the slip of paper still in Catherine's hand. "I'll also have Wendy run this for prints along with the book." He added as he gathered the evidence up and headed out of the room.

Sara turned back around to Catherine. "That was Doc Robbins. He's completed the preliminary autopsy report on Waller. He has something interesting to report.


	26. Chapter 26

08/30/2005 Early Tuesday morning 1:00AM

Chapter Twenty-Six

Reilly sat at the computer next to Archie in the A/V lab helping him run through the camera footage from all the cameras he had access to that the group could have passed in the Tahoe. She was going on fumes and even Archie could see she was about to fall off her seat.

"Look Reilly, you need to lay down for a little bit; you're barely staying upright there." Archie said. "You're not gonna be any help to us or Nick if you fall off that chair. Besides, if Nick found out I let you fall, he'd break my face and I'm kinda partial to it." He added smiling at her. "Look, I'll call in some favors and see what other cameras I can get access to, maybe we'll get lucky."

Reilly smiled and was about to decline when Grissom came into the room catching what Archie had just said. "He's right Reilly. You need to go make use of the couch in my office. Now." When he saw she was about to refuse him too, he added, "If you don't go, I'll call Sam and have her come back here and take you home. Something tells me besides Nick, Sam is the only other person you'll listen to." He smiled at her.

"Funny, Gil. Okay. I'll go lay down, but only if you promise to call me if anything and I mean anything comes up." She said as she got to her feet.

"Of course. Which reminds me. I came in here to tell you that they abandoned the Tahoe and stole a Bronco at a bar near the industrial park. Jim just called and the owner of the Bronco witnessed it. She saw Nick drop something before they put him in the car. Turned out to be your sonogram. She swears it wasn't accidental; his hands were still cuffed behind him and he had to work hard to get the picture out of his vest pocket without being seen."

Reilly looked at him. It bothered her that Nick was still cuffed and it brought pain to her heart to think that he was still in their hands. "There's no way he'd just leave that photo. If he even suspected he was going to die, he'd have hung onto it. It means that much to him." She said as she thought about this for a moment. "If Nick left it on purpose then Gil, he's trying to tell us they don't plan on killing him. At least not yet. They need him alive."

"I think you're right. They need Nick alive." Grissom looked at her. "The good thing is he's alive and we need to hold onto that." He reached out and squeezed her hand. "It's what we've got right now."

Reilly looked up at the man and smiled back at him. "Thanks Gil." Both turned then to see Greg come trotting into the room. Hey Greg." Reilly said to him.

"Hey Reilly." He smiled at her. "Grissom, I've got the visitor logs for the four prisoners and need to see if we can find anything on them."

"I'll take them and start on them." Reilly said, reaching for the pages.

Greg started to hand them over to her when Grissom and Archie both said, "No!" Almost in unison. Greg and Reilly both started at that.

"Sorry. I won't get started on them." Reilly said. "I've been grounded. Naptime." She added rubbing her tummy.

"Exactly." Grissom said. "Go now and try and rest."

"I'll start working on the pages if you need me to, Grissom. I can multi-task." He reached out to Greg for the logs while keeping eye contact with Reilly. He'd let her know if he found anything. They watched out for each other.

"I've got something for Wendy, too. I need the book and this piece of paper printed." Greg said as he handed the bagged paper to show Grissom. "Then I can start running the DNA. Me or Catherine should have more in a couple hours. And I think Sara's still waiting on Doc Robbins autopsy report."

"Great." Reilly said as Greg left the room and headed for Wendy's lab. "I'll just go get started on that nap. Remember-" she started to say.

"We'll call you if we get anything." Grissom finished for her, smiling.

"Ha ha." She said smiling as she walked out of the lab.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brass and Vega stood talking to the blonde woman whose Bronco had been taken while Warrick bent over the area where her car had been parked. He had already bagged the sonogram, but as he knelt down checking the parking area, he noticed a rather large pool of fresh oil in the gravel lot.

Vega jogged over to see what Warrick had and knelt down beside him. "Whatta you got, Warrick?"

"Looks like an oil leak. Do you know if the woman's car had a leak?"

Vega consulted his notes. "Um… yeah, it does. She works here at the bar and her boyfriend just noticed it yesterday but she had to get to work so he didn't get it fixed. She had added fresh oil to get to work and was sure it would need more before she drove home. So these guys won't get far unless they figure out the car has a problem. They'll have to either keep filling it or abandon it and we don't have any reports of it being abandoned yet. I'll call in for some help, maybe we can follow the leak. It's a pretty big leak."

Warrick smiled for the first time since getting to this scene; if they could follow this leak, they had a good chance of finding Nick. "Well call. I'm gonna start following it. Have a car follow me closing off the road." He said as he reached into his kit for a stack of numbered cones, and placing one at the first spot in front of him he snapped a picture of it. He started looking around and found the next drops about twenty feet away and so he began his trek.

Vega yelled over to Brass what Warrick was doing and he nodded. Vega grabbed a couple uniforms who then got in their cars to follow Warrick while Vega pulled out his cell for the extra help they would need and then he jogged after Warrick careful of the already placed cones.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly stood in the bathroom where she had stopped on her way to Grissom's office. She stood there trying hard to fight the burn of the tears that fell from her eyes. At first she had tried to stop crying, but she soon gave up.

She was too tired to stop. She didn't care anymore if someone saw her. She just didn't care right now. She was so tired of all of this; the fear of losing Nick, the fear of being alone if he were taken from her, but most of all she was tired of everything they'd both been through their whole lives. She was tired of the ups and the downs.

It seemed fate had it out for Nick and her. It was like they weren't allowed to be happy. She wasn't allowed to move on and Nick wasn't allowed to stop being a victim. She was tired of fate. She loved Nick and they'd both had enough trauma in their lives. Damn it, they deserved to be happy for once. Just once in their lives.

It didn't seem to matter that Reilly busted her ass trying to do the right thing, trying to do good, trying her damnedest to find as many missing people – children that she could. She felt God owed her at least two happy moments in her life. She had Sam and now she wanted Nick and their baby. She didn't ask for much, but just a little happiness.

She wanted to find Nick – alive and she wanted to have his baby. She wanted to be happy with Nick. She needed to be happy.

She reached into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out the blue velveteen bag she had found. She'd found it just before she and Sam had gone out and brought a surprise dinner for Nick and their CSI family. She had wanted to surprise Nick and the others.

She knew she shouldn't have taken it, but she couldn't help it. She'd known what it was the minute she'd touched the bag. She'd known she was supposed to take it for some reason and she had wanted to surprise Nick. She was just putting away Nick's laundry when she'd found the engagement ring in it's box in his sock drawer.

She had pulled the bag out and without even looking at the actual ring, she had put it in her pocket to surprise Nick with an answer tonight. She'd been thinking and she also was planning a surprise for him after she knew what her next sonogram would reveal. She had planned to move permanently to Vegas. To be with Nick.

She stuffed the pouch back in her pocket and cleaned herself up the best she could. She took a few deep breaths before she walked out of the restroom and headed for Grissom's office and his couch. She had promised after all and she needed a couple hours of rest for the baby.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jameson kept his gun trained on Nick as he lead him to the storage room where Thompson and Smith waited just inside the doorway. The room was relatively small maybe fifteen by fifteen feet and dusty as hell with no windows in here either Nick noticed. Smith led him to the far left back corner of the room where a cot had been set up near some shelves.

The cot was just an old metal army cot with the canvas stretched across the frame to act as a mattress. It wasn't very big, but at least Nick would be somewhat comfortable and that was okay considering the alternative.

"Lay down on your back." Smith ordered Nick as Jameson pushed him towards the cot. Jameson kept his gun on Nick. "No sudden moves, pretty boy. Oops, sorry, I mean Nick." He added, chuckling.

Nick just stood there for a moment looking at the man, this was all just so unreal. He sighed and reluctantly laid down on his back. Smith took the cuffs from Jameson and snapped one around Nick's left wrist and ran the empty cuff through the metal frame bar at the head of the cot then he snapped the empty cuff around Nick's right wrist effectively holding Nick's hands above his head.

While Smith was securing Nick's wrists, Thompson had produced a long length of rope and had moved to the foot of the cot and tied Nick's ankles tightly together and then ran the end of the rope through the metal frame bar at the end of the cot and then back up and through the rope already tied around his ankles.

"There, comfy?" Smith asked smiling down at Nick.

Nick really hated this guy. He chose to ignore him. It didn't matter if he said anything or not, these men were on a mission and he had no say in what was going to happen, so he chose to stay quiet.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Smith said as he reached over to Thompson who was holding a long strip of cloth. "Although I don't know if it matters since you don't seem to be the talkative type." He laughed as he bent down and wrapped the material around Nick's head twice, pulling it tightly between Nick's teeth and then tied it off at the back of his head in a tight knot.

Suddenly it was all just too much for Nick and the fear and despair were finally catching up to him completely. Whatever these men had planned for him it was beginning to sink in that he wasn't going to get away as quickly as he'd hoped and he just wanted to be back with Reilly and his friends. He closed his eyes as he heard the three men leave the room laughing amongst themselves. The last think Nick heard was the sound of the lock on the door clicking into place as he was left alone in the dark.


	27. Chapter 27

08/30/2005 Same night 4:00AM

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Reilly moaned lightly as she slept.

_Reilly had been glad when Brass had pointed her to this bar. She had needed to get away after finding Lexie and getting her to the hospital. She couldn't stand there in the waiting room knowing what had happened to her over the last three days. It was her fault she hadn't found Lexie sooner and now she was going to have to live with what had happened to her like one learns to live with a scar; except this scar couldn't be seen, it was on her soul. She would have to live with this the same way Reilly had been doing for what seemed like forever._

_Reilly had just finished her third shot when the man came up and sat quietly down on the bar stool next to hers. She looked up into deep chocolate brown eyes and sighed. Oh goody, she thought, my favorite person in the whole wide world had found me. God why couldn't him and his eyes just drop off the face of the earth? "What are you doing here? Are you following me?"_

_"No. Why would I want to follow you?" Nick responded. "You made it very clear that you were only tolerating me as a CSI and because Brass needed me. Remember, you said it was nothing personal, you just didn't like me or my science shit." Nick chuckled as he remembered the way she'd looked at him when she'd said those words._

_"Yeah, well, just 'cause I said it, doesn't mean you listened now does it? Especially since you're here of all places." Reilly asked for another shot. The bartender raised one eyebrow, but poured the shot for her. Reilly grabbed it and threw it back in one gulp._

_She could handle the burn, but on her empty stomach she knew she'd be feeling the effects of her self-medicating alcoholic haze any minute now._

_"How many of those have you had?" Nick asked. When Reilly remained silent, he looked at the bartender who held up four fingers._

_"Traitor." Reilly told him as she felt the first welcomed wave of fuzziness coming on._

_The bartender just laughed and shrugged his shoulders as Nick smiled at Reilly. Oh, God, don't give me that perfect smile of yours. Your perfect white teeth and perfect full lips irritated her so much right now. Then when he threw out his perfect Texas drawl every now and again, she had to fight the urge to hit him. Or maybe it was the urge to just jump his bones. _

_She shook her head to clear that thought from her brain; she did not need to go there. This man was a nuisance, he argued everything with her, and he was arrogant to boot._

_"Maybe I should get you back to the hotel; Brass is looking for you anyway. Your goddaughter was checked in the ER and released; she's back at the hotel waiting for you. Sam too." Nick said as he took a drink of his beer. He knew they weren't leaving right away; they'd be there till Reilly was ready to go; this was her show right now. She knew he'd wait for her._

_"Not go…go…goiiinng back." Reilly slurred, listing a little towards Nick. She sighed; God, she needed another drink, but she didn't have the energy to ask. Besides the bartender was a traitor. He was on Nick's side. Everyone was on Nick's side. With his beautiful eyes, perfect teeth, full lips, perfect smile, perfect body..,. Mr. Beautiful Perfect man, she thought._

_"Okay." Nick said smiling slightly._

_Reilly looked up at him. "Stop smiling at… at me. And stop looking at me… me with… with those damn eyes… eyes of yours." She really couldn't think clearly when he used those eyes in that puppy dog way of his. "It's… it's driving me… me friggin' nuts over… over here." She swallowed hard as she watched him still smiling at her._

_As Nick continued the smiling, he said again, "Okay."_

_"I'm not… goiinng back… not now. Can't face them… Lexie or Sam… not right now." Reilly said sitting up straight and looking at the man. "And Brass can… can kiss my ass if he thinks I'm go…gonna take a lecture from him for not list-istening to his chauvamistic… chauvasistis… his male atti-attitude thing he has a lot… lot of. I found my goddaughter no… no thanks to him, the LVPD or even his precious pain in my ass CSIs."_

_"Okay." Nick said again still smiling._

_"And sh-shtop saying okay!"_

_"Okay." He smiled._

_"You think you're funny, Nick Shtokes?"_

_"I think I'm hilarious."_

_"Ha ha. Well, you're not. You are a pain in my ass too… 'member?"_

_"Well, I could be." Nick said softly for her ears only._

_Reilly turned to look up at him surprised. "Wha-What did you say to me?" She tried to blink her confusion away, but was having little success. "Did you say… damn I can't think… what did you say?"_

_Nick looked at her and sighed. "Look, even if you didn't listen to Brass, you didn't endanger anyone, but yourself. Brass knows that, but the problem is that even though you're a consultant with the police department, you didn't have any legal right to be here in Vegas and if we hadn't found Lexie, you could have been hurt or you could have endangered civilians."_

_"Well, I did find Lexie, and I didn't get hurt or endan… endangerous anyone. Everyone's hunky dory here. Yeeeppp, just hunky dory." Except me, she thought. I'm not hunky dory at all, emotionally that is. But that's my secret._

_"Reilly you can't blame yourself for not finding Lexie sooner. You did the best you could. In fact Brass said it himself, he's never seen any detective he's ever known work the way you do and get the results you get. They're just amazing. Because of you, Lexie's children have their mother back and Sam has her best friend back." Nick paused as he took another swig of his beer. "Besides, Lexie has a long road ahead of her and she's gonna need you there for her. Sam told me that you are probably the only person who could possibly understand what Lexie's been through." He added softly._

_Reilly's head jerked up at that. "What do you mean? What did Sam tell you?" She was sobering up fast and she did not want to have this conversation especially with Nick. She didn't like this man, except maybe when he gave her a look with those beautiful eyes of his. Damn, what is he doing to my head? I can't possibly be thinking of him in that way…can I? Oh, damn, I'm a goner._

_"Don't blame Sam and she only told me a little, not the whole story, but enough to know that she's right. You're the only one who can sympathize with Lexie. You can help her get through all of the stuff that comes next." Nick turned and looked at Reilly. Really looked at her._

_Reilly felt that same old fear start to seep into her bones. What had happened to her was over fifteen years ago, but sometimes she couldn't help feeling vulnerable and helpless all over again. She hated feeling that way. It was like he was back in control again._

_"Lexie was raped, Nick Stokes. Repeatedly. And that is something I cannot sympathize with."_

_"You know what I mean Reilly. You can help her by telling her your story. Maybe even tell Sam the whole story. She says you've never told anyone everything. She's worried about you since you just took off like you did. She's the one who asked me to find you."_

_"Okay fine Nick. You want me to go to Lexie and say, 'Hey, don't cry honey, because I know what you've been through myself. I was raped too. So let's all talk and then everything will be all better'? Well, not gonna happen. I put a lid on that a long time ago and I promised myself no one, and I mean no one was ever going to hear me talk about it. Not some stranger in a strange office; not my family with their sympathetic eyes; not you with your damn eyes. Ever." Reilly said. She was not going back there again. Not for anyone. Not even for Mr. Beautiful Perfect man, Nick Stokes._


	28. Chapter 28

08/30/2005 4:00AM-5:00AM

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Nick moaned lightly in his sleep.

_Reilly was sitting at the bar exactly where Brass had said she would be. Funny that Brass knew which bar she'd be in, but Nick hadn't thought to ask him how he knew before heading off to do Sam a huge favor by dragging her mother back to the hotel. The woman was impossible; she was rude, arrogant and she was not on Nick's list of favorite people, but after talking to Sam, Nick had learned why this case was so important to Reilly. So he had agreed to come find her and bring her back if he could and he knew he was an idiot for agreeing to do this. He was just too nice._

_Nick had learned that it was important to Reilly to find her goddaughter, Lexie, before she'd been gone too long, but she hadn't; Lexie had been held by her kidnapper for over three days, so the possibility of finding her alive had been remote at best. But Reilly had found her; just not in time to stop Lexie from being assaulted repeatedly by her kidnapper._

_And because of that, Reilly had felt like she had failed Lexie, or at least that's what Sam thought. Reilly took every case she had to heart, but more so when it was family. And no matter what his personal feelings were for the woman, he felt Sam was right. Reilly had looked and acted to him like she had failed Lexie. When Reilly had taken off without telling anyone, he had started to feel for her._

_After Reilly had left the hospital, Sam had started worrying about her and she had begged Nick of all people to please find her. And Brass had pointed him to this bar down the street from the hospital, and now here Nick stood as he watched the woman he really didn't like all that much down a shot in one swallow. She was beautiful though, Nick thought. Her hair was so shiny and her eyes. He didn't even know how to explain her eyes. They mesmerized him._

_He sighed as he walked over to Reilly and quietly sat down on the bar stool next to hers and ordered a beer from the bartender. Reilly had turned those emerald green eyes of hers on him._

_"What are you doing here? Are you following me?" She'd said._

_Damn her eyes Nick thought, that's it, I'm done for._

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Catherine was in the print lab helping Wendy; she had lifted DNA samples from the prints Wendy was currently running from the note, the book and those brought in by Brass from the Tahoe.

Brass had brought in all the evidence Warrick had collected so that Warrick and Vega could follow the oil leak from the Bronco. There were no unidentifiable prints on the sonogram so it had been set aside for now while all the other prints lifted were being run.

Sara had shared with Catherine Doc Robbins preliminary autopsy findings and was there now to observe the actual autopsy. She would call if anything showed up.

Greg was helping Hodges run the trace samples found at the jail crime scene, from Waller's body, the Tahoe and the prisoners' jail cells. He was waiting to help Catherine with the DNA swabs collected from the prints.

Everyone was working hard on trying to find Nick and Catherine and Wendy were surprised when they discovered something pop up in AFIS. They ran the prints twice to be sure and Catherine grabbed the printouts and ran to find Brass and Grissom. She had Wendy take possession of the print DNA and get it to Greg and told her to tell him to run that DNA first and to fill him in on what they'd just found out from the prints.

This was a major break in the case and someone had some major explaining to do.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Archie looked up from the call he was on to see Catherine run out of Wendy's lab. "Hey, Brad, looks like something's up here with the prints we found… No, I'm not sure what prints – Reilly will know – I'll have her call you. Can you see exactly what our lab is running on your end? Yeah? Cool… okay get me the camera footage ASAP and I owe you one. Okay. Great – bye." Archie ended his call and then he sent a text to Reilly's cell with the cryptic message of Cath – 911. She would know what he meant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The woman sat on the sofa in the beautiful penthouse suite she was staying in at the Excalibur. She was waiting for her phone to ring. She'd been watching the news about the jailbreak since it had happened. They were reporting CSI Nicholas Stokes had been taken hostage during the escape.

"Poor Nicky." She said out loud as she smiled to herself.

When her cell rang and she saw the caller ID she continued smiling as she answered it. "Hello, sis… yes I'm watching the news right now… yes we have Nicky… We meet with them at 9AM… are you almost here? Yes? Good… no – no problems. Everything went like clockwork. I talked to John about thirty minutes ago. Soon Nick Stokes will be all yours." She continued talking for a few more minutes before ending the call.

Her sister would be there soon and then she'd be back with John and her sister would be back with Nick. Everything was perfect. Soon Nick Stokes, your life as you have previously known it will end.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Catherine, you're sure about these results?" Brass asked, looking up from the paper in his hands. He looked between Catherine and Grissom as they all stood in Brass' office.

"Wendy ran the prints twice." Catherine said nodding her head at Brass. "Prints from the note, the book, one of the guns found in the Tahoe, and the front passenger door handles inside and out, have one person's prints in common; prisoner John Smith. The prints from the note, the book and the gun all have another person's prints in common; Clark County Detention Center night supervisor Roger Coleman." Catherine smiled as she repeated the results. "That means Coleman either lied about the evidence for whatever reason or is in on the jailbreak."

"That's good enough for me. I'll have him brought in for questioning." Brass said as he picked up the receiver of his desk phone.

"Wait. You might want to have this information first." Grissom said as he handed Brass another piece of paper from Catherine he'd been reading over.

When Brass read it he asked, "This for real?"

"As real as it gets. When Coleman's prints came up, a cross-referenced file also popped up showing he has a relative whose prints are in AFIS for a felony assault. The charges were dropped, but because of Coleman's status with law enforcement, the file stays attached to all of his files. The prints belong to his daughter who works at the Excalibur; Lauren Hall Coleman." Catherine replied as her cell phone began to ring. After checking the caller ID she chose to ignore it.

"Lauren Hall Coleman? As in Nick's ex-girlfriend?" Reilly asked from the doorway of Brass' office. She'd gotten Archie's text and had followed Catherine.

"Reilly, you can't sneak up on people like that. It's nerve-wracking." Brass shot at her. "You're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days."

"Yeah Jim, gotcha. Don't sneak up on you. Won't do it again, promise." Reilly replied sarcastically as she moved into the office. "Now, what about Lauren?"

Grissom answered her. "Seems she's the daughter of CCDC night supervisor Roger Coleman. Her prints popped up with a connection to his which we lifted off the book."

"Yeah and that's not all." Greg said as he came running into the office behind Reilly. "I've got the DNA results of the DNA from the prints Catherine gave me to rush."

"What did you find?" Catherine asked.

"The book only had two sets of prints which confirmed only Coleman and Smith handled the book, but as you know the note had 4 sets of prints – one set Coleman and one set Smith. The other two were not found in AFIS by you, but I was able to isolate the DNA from the two."

"What did you find out?" Grissom asked.

"One set is male with 9 alials in common with Coleman probably a brother, father or son. The other set was female with 7 alials in common with John Smith. Neither donor was found in CODIS." Greg paused before continuing. "Coleman and Smith are not related to each other and neither are the two donors, but they are related to each of these two men. Which means we have at least two other players here that are helping Smith and the other prisoners from the outside."

"Brass have Lauren picked up too." Grissom said. "Greg it appears the female donor isn't Lauren since she's related to Coleman, not Smith, but can you run comparison DNA tests to determine if either of the two unidentified donors has any relatives besides Coleman and Smith that are in any of our systems? Check all systems whether criminal or not. We need to widen our search grid a bit."

"Sure." Greg said as he hurried out of the room to start researching.

"Guys, you know Lauren's been harassing both me and Nick lately; she's involved somehow, I know it." Reilly said as she thought back to all the things Lauren had said and done. _The girl's not right, Nick._

"I'm beginning to believe she's in this up to her neck." Brass said as he hung up his desk phone.

"Catherine, spread the word, we meet in thirty minutes in the evidence room. We need to get everyone on the same page here." Grissom instructed. "Reilly, I want you to help me with the visitors' logs we left with Archie. We need to see if anyone visited any of the prisoners that could be our outside players in this game."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Catherine knew that if Lauren worked for a hotel/casino and was related to someone in law enforcement then Catherine knew someone who might know who the unknown DNA belonged to. Their equipment in the lab was fast, but sometimes old-fashioned leg work was what would get you the answer you needed a lot sooner.

"Sara, I'm going to run an errand; I'll be back soon. Can you cover for me?" Catherine asked the other woman as she decided to follow a hunch.

Sara looked at Catherine from her stance at the evidence table. "Sure, but where are you going? We have a meeting."

"I'm gonna sort of talk to an informant."

"Informant? You have an informant?" Sara asked confused.

"Yeah I do. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, I'll call and report in."

"Who's your informant?" Sara asked.

"Sam." Catherine said as she walked out of the room.

Sara was slightly confused then she smiled. If anyone knew the secrets of Las Vegas, it was Sam. Whatever happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas… and it stayed with Sam Braun.


	29. Chapter 29

08/30/2005 Same day 5:00AM – 6:30AM

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Reilly sat with Grissom in the A/V lab going over the visitors' logs while Archie searched camera footage from the bar crime scene. He also was running the footage from the detention center over and over in a loop trying to figure out how they may have disabled the tracking systems.

"Look what I found wondering around in my lobby." Judy said from the doorway.

Sam stepped into the room as Grissom and Reilly turned at the sound of Judy's voice.

"Sam you didn't need to come back here." Reilly turned to eye Grissom. "Did Gil call you to watch over me?"

Grissom just smiled at Reilly while she looked at him accusingly.

"No, Mr. Grissom didn't call me. Why – should he have?" Sam asked confused. "I came because I'm worried about Nick too and I'm also worried about you." She added as she pulled up a stool to sit at the table near her mother but far enough from the evidence so she couldn't be in contact with it. She knew her mother was authorized to handle the evidence, but she was not and she knew well enough to stay a safe distance from it.

"I'm fine. I even had a nap." Reilly said.

"Good. So any news so far?" Sam asked. She stood up and peered over her mother's shoulder at something they were working on that caught her eye. "Hey, that signature there looks like Lauren's, but that's not her name." Sam said as she pointed out the signature that read 'Lou Ann Smith'.

"How do you know what Lauren's signature looks like?" Reilly asked her surprised.

"When she insisted on buying our dinner the night she was a bitch. She signed for it and I watched her do it."

Grissom wheeled closer to Reilly with his set of logs and compared them to Reilly's set. Grissom broke out a huge grin. "I think we have a connection between the prisoners and the outside world. Lauren's been visiting John Smith for the last three months."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Warrick and Vega kept walking down the middle of the street just behind the bar; they had lost the oil leak for a few minutes, but then they'd picked it back up on the opposite side of the alley, as if the car had been parked in the alley for a few minutes before moving on. The drops started to get farther and farther apart indicating either the car was leaking slower or the car had picked up speed as it entered the main street off the alley.

Warrick assumed the later was the case, since he still had a trail to follow although it was becoming harder to spot the leaks now. They'd walked about a mile from the alley when they again lost the trail. They were standing in a convenience store parking lot.

"Well what now?" Vega asked as he looked at the possible routes around them.

"I'm not sure." Warrick said as a thought suddenly hit him. "Do you know if we have any dogs that can follow an oil leak?" Warrick asked Vega. He remembered reading somewhere that it was possible to train a dog to smell petroleum for oil leaks in Alaska; maybe that included refined oil as well.

Vega scratched his head as he thought. "I don't know… I've heard that the dog trainers have been working on training arson and bomb dogs on smelling out different types of accelerants, maybe, oil is one of them. Let me get a call in and find out." Vega said as he pulled out his cell and placed a call.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Grissom, Reilly, Greg, Sam, Sara and Brass were all gathered in the evidence room where their evidence was already spread out on the huge illuminated table. Sam sat in a chair away from the table where the others were all standing.

Catherine was still out, but Sara was prepared to call her if they needed to. She had already informed the others that Catherine was following a lead.

Warrick and Vega were still in the field working on tracking the oil leak from the Bronco. Vega had found a handler and an arson dog that was being experimentally trained in sniffing oil leaks as used as accelerants in fires. The dog, Milo, couldn't determine dried stains, but he could follow a fresh leak.

"Okay, guys. We need to all be on the same page here, so let's go over what we have so far. Who wants to go first?" Grissom asked.

"I will." Sara answered. "I've been over the dead inmate Matthew Waller's x-rays and the doctor's statement from the hospital which Doc Robbins supports, and it shows he was not killed by a blow to the head with the book, but with a small hand tool instead. Something like a wrench is what they are guessing judging by the indentations to the skull. That means the book is a false clue, probably placed there to mislead the investigation. The hair and blood on the book do belong to Waller, but it isn't consistent with a head injury; the hair and blood were most likely place on the book." Sara paused. "Waller's infirmary records show he was already on his way out. He had end stage liver cancer and from Doc Robbins, he would probably have only had a couple of months at most left. Whoever killed him could have saved their self the trouble. It was no secret and most of the people interviewed knew that Waller had cancer."

"Okay, so why kill a man who's technically almost dead anyway?" Brass asked.

"In my experience there are only two reasons to kill an almost dead man." Reilly replied. "One – the killer didn't know and/or did know and didn't care or…" She looked at Grissom.

"Or what?" Greg asked noting the look that passed between the two.

"Or the victim didn't care." Grissom finished.

"What does that mean?" Sara asked looking at the two.

"It means Waller allowed himself to be killed." Brass surmised for them.

"Very good Jim." Reilly said.

"Okay so the whole attack on Waller was set up; for what to bring in the cops?" Greg asked. "But why?"

Not the cops specifically." Grissom said. "My guess is they wanted CSI called in. More specifically they wanted Nick brought in."

"But why Nick?" Sam asked as she stood up from her chair in the corner.

"That's what we need to find out." Grissom answered. "What else do we have?"

"Well Gil and I found in the visitors' logs, thanks to Sam here as she recognized Lauren's handwriting, that Lauren's been visiting john Smith every other day for the last three months signing in as Lou Ann Smith, his wife. I had Jerry in QD go over the logs and requested a copy of a credit card receipt for the dinner Lauren bought us and I'll forward that to Jerry as soon as I get it." Reilly paused as she looked down at her notes. "I had Archie pull up security footage from the jail and we found Lauren and Smith behaving very friendly during most of their last visits and Coleman joined her on her last two visits with Smith." Reilly supplied.

"That's more than enough to compel warrants to search both Coleman's home and Lauren's. I'll be right back. I'm just gonna make some calls." Brass stepped out of the room for a moment to make his calls.

"I know how they disabled the LoJack and the GPS tracking systems." Greg took over. "They used a piece of metal mesh made of lead. They left it with the Tahoe. I talked to Brass earlier, who as you know was a marine, and he said lead was probably used because as we all know lead can block radio signals. It's something the military is aware of and has been known to be used in certain instances." Greg supplied. "Brass checked and it turns out John Smith is a former Marine re-con sniper who served two tours of duty for our county and has a government file so blacked out you can't put two words together to make a sentence."

"So let's walk through it." Grissom said. "Roughly three months ago for whatever reason Lauren starts seeing Smith, lying about her identity also for whatever reason, and together they make plans for Smith's jailbreak."

"They get Waller to sacrifice his life, maybe paying him or promising him something at the time; they know the rec room will be busy on big game days." Sara took over. "So they use it due to the confusion that will cause. But we don't know the details of why Waller allowed himself to be killed or why Smith needed to escape."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but why are we assuming Smith is in charge in all of this? You guys keep coming back to Smith in everything. Thompson's the one that grabbed Nick, used him as a hostage and asked the other two if they wanted in. Wouldn't that mean Thompson was in charge?" Sam asked looking at the people standing there.

AN: On the oil sniffing dog, my neohew trains security dogs and rescue dogs, and while he said it is theoretically possible to train a dog to follow an oil leak, he is not going to be able to follow any specific brand of motor oil. He also said it is true that dogs have been trained to sniff for crude oil leaks along the Alaskan pipeline, he did not know if they were trained for any other types of oils, but his best guess would for a police bomb dog or a fire arson dog to probably be able to sniff oils. He did not think that a drug or K9 officer could be trained for that unless they were also trained in sniffing accelerants. Just a note. I try to do my research! Please send me those reviews - they're golden!


	30. Chapter 30

08/30/2005 Same day same time

Chapter Thirty

"I mean you keep saying Smith and I understand why, because he's the one with all the ties; all the connections to something or someone, but for appearances it looks to be Thompson is in charge of everything. Maybe Smith actually in charge and he's using Thompson and Jameson as fall guys?" Sam continued to question.

"You're right Sam," Reilly said. "Smith is in charge. He set it all up with Coleman and Lauren and the unknown male and female on the outside. But we still do not know why they targeted CSI and Nick. Gil had to call Nick and Warrick in early to replace two CSIs out sick from swing shift. So how would any of them know Nick would be called in?"

"We still have too many questions without enough answers and we're getting closer to this supposed meeting time." Grissom added, looking up at the clock in the room.

"Well, I know the book was not supposed to be out of the library; they don't show it being currently checked out to any inmate, so maybe Coleman either took it to pass the note to Smith or Smith took it to get a noted passed from someone. I'm leaning towards Smith taking it because Coleman's prints are not on the note, only his male relative. I'm at a loss to the female relative of Smith's being known by the male relative of Coleman's though, but that's the logical assumption that the two outsiders know each of the men and each other. The writing on the note isn't Coleman's or Smith's." Greg stated as he picked up the bagged note and Reilly reached out to take it.

"What does one mill mean?" Reilly asked as she studied the piece of paper. "This writing is definitely female; Sam could this possibly be Lauren's writing?" She asked her daughter as she allowed Sam to handle the evidence bag.

While Sam is studying the writing, Greg said, "Archie hasn't come up with anything on businesses or names that have mill in their title or as a nickname. Nothing comes up in anything on street names either. There is old Mill Road outside of town on the outskirts, but there aren't any buildings there and nothing even starts with a one, let alone only a one."

"I'm no handwriting expert and I only saw Lauren sign her own name, but her L's and H's are pretty distinctive and since neither is in this note, I can't be sure, but I don't think this is her handwriting." Sam thought about it as she handed the note back to her mother. "Could one mill be short for one million like in money?" She asked. When all eyes turned to look at her, she became embarrassed. "What? Was that a stupid question?"

Grissom smiled at Sam. "No Sam that was not a stupid question. In fact that was an amazing question and so simple. Why none of I didn't even think that is beyond me."

"And we should have; great question Sam." Greg said as he winked at a still blushing Sam.

"Down boy; mother in the room." Reilly told Greg, but she smiled at him to let him know she was just teasing. "Okay so maybe Smith and the other two have a meeting at 9AM to pick up one million for something they have or will have by then?"

"Possibly, but do they have something that's worth a million dollars?" Sara asked doubtful. "They're prisoners who just escaped; they have nothing in the jail, so they have to either have it with them or they had stashed it before going in and need to get it."

"Not likely. If they stashed it before going to jail it would mean they either were in it together or they joined forces to help whoever stashed it before going to jail and divide up the loot and from our research the three never knew each other before meeting in jail." Grissom supplied as he noted Brass had walked back into the room.

"Well, what were they in jail for?" Sam asked.

"Thompson was awaiting trial on manslaughter charges. He was a bouncer at a bar and beat up a guy pretty bad. Jameson was arrested on his third DUI; his drug of choice marijuana and lots of tequila chasers. And Smith was also awaiting trial on manslaughter charges. He got into an argument with his former boss and he claims he 'accidentally' ran him over in his car. Twice. Once forward and once backward." Brass said. "They're all a bunch of winners if you ask me."

"Yeah, Smith and Thompson seem like really nice guys and Jameson… well he sounds like an idiot. I don't see him sharing the same lunch table as the other two." Greg said. "So where would they get something worth one million between the time they break out of jail and 9AM this morning?" He questioned.

Reilly's face suddenly went white as it dawned on her. "Oh, God it's so simple. They took it with them when they broke out." She said.

"Took what?" Greg asked, not understanding. He looked closely at Reilly and then he got it too. "Oh, God you're right they did." He added as he realized what she meant.

"Took what?" Sara repeated. "Help us less than smarter people with what you two are getting at here."

"Not what, who." Reilly looked up at her. "They took Nick. They're going to trade him for the money. They know someone who wants him specifically and is paying them for getting him, plus they get out of jail. That's why they need him alive and Nick knows their plan; they must have told him after they escaped." Reilly knew in her heart she was right. "That's why Nick left the sonogram, he knew what they were going to do and he needed to get it across to us somehow. Nick's been the target this whole time."

"Who would want Nick?" Sam asked. When Reilly turned to look at her, she added, "I don't mean like that!" She sighed. "You know what I mean."

"I don't know why for sure, but maybe Lauren does; if she'll talk. I don't think she can get that kind of money, but she has to know something." Reilly tried to take it all in. "I don't know who could want him that badly to pay for him. And you all know what I mean by that too!"

"Greg go run financials on Coleman and Lauren just to see if anything is possible with them." Grissom instructed the younger CSI.

"You got it." Greg answered as he headed out the door while Brass turned to answer his ringing cell.

After talking for a few minutes, Brass turned around. "Coleman has been picked up by Detective Vartann and he's been served the warrant. His place is currently being swept and Detective O'Riley is on his way to Lauren's condo now."

They continued discussing the evidence on the table when Sara's cell rang. "It's Catherine." She announced as she answered the phone. "Hey Cath… you got something?" Sara listened for a moment then her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.

XXXXX

Jackie Monroe took the elevator up to the penthouse suite where her sister was staying and let herself into her room. She met her sister's eyes from across the room as the women went to each other for a fierce embrace. Allyson Monroe-Hendler had missed her sister and she was glad she was finally here.

"Jackie, it's so good to have you back finally." Allyson said to her older sister. "It's been too long." She smiled as she hugged her sister.

"I'm so happy to be here and away from that awful place." Jackie replied. "And I can't wait to have my Nicky back. Is everything set?"

"Yes. We meet at the motel at 9AM and pick up Nick then John will see to the two cons with him. He's worked hard to set up Lauren and her father for all of this. Our brother is so smart."

"I'm getting so excited; it's been a long time since I last saw Nicky and now we can be together again. No more doctors to deal with." The older woman's soft southern drawl became more noticeable as she talked of Nick and if one knew how to look you could almost see the insanity lurking behind her brown eyes.

XXXXX

"Hey Cath… you got something?" Sara listened for a moment then her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. "Are you positive?"

Everyone in the room was listening to Sara's side of the conversation, but still they were at a loss as to what new revelation was forthcoming. Greg came in as Sara was talking to Catherine, but didn't understand why everyone was looking so spellbound.

"Okay, Catherine." Sara paused in her call to look at everyone. "The male DNA from the note that's related to Coleman; Catherine says Sam knows who it probably belongs to." Sara took a deep breath. "She went to Sam Braun and asked him since he knows everything going on practically and he says Coleman has a son, Jason." After seeing all the blank stares she added, "We know him better as Jason Hendler."

That brought Grissom and Brass' heads up. Reilly noticed the name got Greg's attention as well. "Who is Jason Hendler?" She asked.

"Jason Hendler was married to Amy Hendler. We arrested her a few years back for murdering Jason's first girlfriend, Fay Green." Grissom explained.

"Sam's positive Coleman and Jason are related?" Brass asked Sara.

Sara nodded as she picked up a pen and a pad of paper to jot down the rest of what Catherine was telling her then she ended the call.

"Amy Hendler is the woman who held Nick at gunpoint and almost killed him?" Reilly asked. She remembered Nick telling her about that ordeal.

"Yes." Grissom answered. "And as far as we know, she's still in prison."

"So how does Sam Braun know Jason Hendler?" Brass asked.

"Catherine said that Sam knows him through some real estate deals. Sam hired Jason to buy the land for a new casino he's building in Reno." Sara read from her pad of notes. "Jason divorced Amy after she went to prison and has since remarried. Allyson Monroe is from Dallas, Texas. I'm gonna go run her name and see what I can find. She's from Texas so maybe she is the mystery woman and knows something about Nick's past." Sara said as she excused herself and left the lab.

"If Jason knows and works for Sam Braun, he has access to a million easy; and saying Coleman's his father that makes Lauren his half-sister at the least and he could give her the money for Nick." Brass said. "I think that gives me a reason to have Jason Hendler brought in for questioning.

"That's highly probable, as their financials alone do not show either Coleman or Lauren having anything near a million at their disposal." Greg added.


	31. Chapter 31

08/30/2005 Same day 8:00AM-8:30AM

Chapter Thirty-One

Nick slowly woke up to find every muscle in his body protesting at having been stretched and restrained all night. He tried to move his arms and legs just a bit, but his restraints didn't allow much movement. And he needed to use the bathroom again.

He listened to see if he could hear anything, but he didn't hear a single sound except his own ragged breathing around the gag in his mouth. His throat was dry from being stretched and stuffed with the fabric and his wrists hurt from the movement of the metal cuffs biting into his skin.

Nick thought about his dream of Reilly back when he'd gone to drag her out of that bar for Sam. He missed her so much right now. He hoped she was holding up okay. He hated that he was probably causing her stress in her condition.

Nick was just about to give up on staying awake when he heard the lock turn on the door and when he turned towards the door at the man who entered his cell; he wasn't surprised to see John come in.

"So how's our guest doing?" He asked, smiling down at Nick.

Nick just glared at the man since it was impossible for him to say the words he really wanted so badly to say.

Smith reached out and Nick saw he held a large hunting knife in his hand; but Smith simply used it to cut through the ropes securing Nick's ankles. Then he produced a handcuff key and said, "No tricks here or I swear you'll regret it." He held onto the knife in a defensive position with the blade running parallel to his wrist as he unlocked Nick's cuffs.

Nick slowly brought his hands down to his body wincing as the muscles protested the entire way down. He rubbed his wrists for a few moments and then he reached up to try and pry the gag out of his mouth, but it was too tight. Smith reached out with the knife and carefully slipped it between the cloth and Nick's cheek and sliced through the fabric.

Nick pulled the cloth away and slowly sat up as he stretched the muscles in his back and shoulders. Nick didn't say anything to Smith who just stood there watching him. He was way to intent for Nick's liking and he was getting the feeling that Smith was looking at him like he was trying to figure out what made him tick or something. It was beginning to unnerve him.

"We're leaving in a few minutes. Do you need to use the head?" Smith asked matter of fact.

Nick looked up at him and slowly nodded. He hated letting this man see any kind of weakness, but he couldn't deny his bodily needs. The best he could do was to try and stay as healthy as possible during this ordeal and when the opportunity presented itself, he'd be able to escape.

Smith reached out and grabbed a hold of Nick's arm and hauled him to his feet, while his legs protested the sudden movement. As Smith pulled him along Nick saw Jameson standing in the doorway with his gun in his hand.

"Larry, here take the key and get the cuffs and get the rest of the rope. We'll need it all later for our guest." Smith said as he tossed Larry the key and guided Nick out of the room and letting Jameson enter.

"Okay, you know the drill Nick. In and out or I come in after you." Smith said as they reached the bathroom.

Nick pulled his arm free of Smith's grasp as the man laughed at him and he went into the bathroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brass sat in interrogation room number 2 with Grissom seated next to him. The two men were facing Lauren Hall Coleman, who sat nervously tapping long crimson colored nails on the table top between them.

"So Miss Hall, is it?" Grissom asked.

"Yes, but you can call me Lauren." She replied somewhat bored.

"Well Lauren, we'd like to talk to you about your visits to the Clark County Detention Center to visit with inmate John Smith."

"Who? I don't know a John Smith and I've never been to the jail." She seemed shocked that they'd think she was the type to be connected to a criminal.

"You might want to rethink that answer, Miss Hall." Brass said, as Grissom produced copies of the log sheets from a manila folder. "We have your signature here showing you visited Smith every other day for at least the last three months."

"That's not my signature. That says Lou Ann Smith. I'm not Lou Ann Smith."

Grissom pulled two more sheets of paper from his folder. "This is your signature, Lauren Hall, from a credit card receipt when you were kind enough to pay for Reilly and Sam Mallone's dinner at the Sands a few days ago." Grissom pointed to the first piece of paper. Then he pointed to the second piece. "And this is a notarized document stating that your signature is a match to the log in signature of Lou Ann Smith from our handwriting analyst."

The woman just stared at the pieces of paper in front of her. "Well, that's a lie. That is not my signature. I've never been to the jail to meet anyone, let alone a John Smith." She stated adamantly.

Grissom kept his face neutral as he pulled two 8 x 10 glossy black and white photos from his folder. He placed them side by side on the top of the other pieces of paper. One photo showed Lauren hugging John Smith. The second showed the woman kissing Smith. "Then these must be a lie too?" He asked her as he allowed himself a small grin at her reaction.

"It's posted in the jail all over from the minute you enter that all visitors are monitored with closed circuit monitors. Big brother at his finest, Lauren." Brass smiled as Lauren began to tremble slightly from the shock of their findings. "You see, this evidence ties you to both Nick Stokes and one of his captors, John Smith. That's probable cause and I can detain you for forty-eight hours to start with until I can put together a case against you as an accomplice to his kidnapping. This evidence tells me you possibly knew about the kidnapping and jailbreak plans and I think it's in your best interest to come clean on what's going on here." Brass added as he placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward towards the woman.

Lauren just sat there taking in the pictures and everything. Finally after several minutes she looked at them with a resounding sigh and asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Where is Nick Stokes?" Brass stood and leaned on the table into Lauren's face.


	32. Chapter 32

08/30/2005 Same Day 8:00AM-8:30AM

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Hey, hurry up in there, pretty boy." Smith's cold voice boomed at Nick through the closed door.

Nick quickly flushed his face with cold water then wiped his face on his shirt sleeve. He was about to find out what was going down today and he needed his wits about him. No one had found him yet, but that didn't mean they weren't looking. He knew his friends and they were out there looking for him right now. He had to keep the faith. He gave himself a mental shake as he took one final look in the mirror before turning around and pulling open the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam Vega called for backup as he and Warrick followed Mike and his arson dog, Milo, a German shepherd. Milo had led the group to a warehouse at the end of the street about a mile from the convenience store's parking lot. The warehouse was preceded by a large parking lot and a chained off area for heavy equipment. There was a small outbuilding that stood flush against the warehouse itself.

Vega had already checked a window and spotted the Bronco inside the building as their backup began to arrive silently. Once all the units were in place, Vega allowed Warrick to follow him as they drew their weapons and slowly proceeded to approach the front of the warehouse.

The door was ajar and on the count of three the men rushed the building amidst the shouting of "Police! Don't move!" from Vega. The building was vacant save for the Bronco.

"Spread out and check every room and every corner. If they aren't here now, they were and we need a clue to where they are going." Vega instructed as he pulled out his radio to call it in.

Warrick walked over to something by a closed door that had caught his eye and Vega followed him. Warrick bent down and picked up Nick's black CSI field vest with 'Stokes' in white lettering over the pocket and looked at Vega. "Damn it! He was here!"

Patrolman Beckett came over to them. "We just missed them sir. There's a coffee pot in the last room, an office and it's still warm."

"Damn it!" Warrick said again. "Now how are we going to find him?!"

Vega's cell rang in his hand. "Vega." He paused as he listened to the caller. "Okay we're heading back now." He looked at Warrick as he ended his call. "That was Brass and he's sending dayshift to process the scene here. He wants us back at the station; he may have a lead on Nick." Both men left the patrolmen there to secure the scene and rushed back to the lab.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick sat in the red GMC Envoy with his hands cuffed in front of him holding the Styrofoam cup of coffee given to him in one hand and the doughnut in the other. It was dry, but he was starved and didn't really care as long as it was edible. He needed to maintain his strength.

Thompson was driving this time and Smith was seated in the back with Nick. Jameson was following them in the pickup truck.

After Nick had come out of the bathroom, they had cuffed him and gotten in the vehicles. Smith had a bag of food that he put in the front seat with Thompson and they had different weapons. The three men had also been able to change their clothes. Nick thought about this; someone had stocked the warehouse for them. They had planned on being taken care of and someone was helping them along on the outside since their jailbreak.

Nick finished the doughnut and Smith handed him another from the box on his lap without question. Nick took it and chewed it as he continued thinking. He needed a plan here. He just hoped his friends were going to be able to keep up with these changes. He knew Reilly wasn't going to give up, but he knew she'd need help with this one. Help that only Reilly knew how to get. CSI was good, damn good, but they had to follow the science and the law and sometimes Reilly knew how to maneuver around those legal road blocks. Whoever was helping these guys was hiding in the background and only Reilly's sources would be able to flush them out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jackie and Allyson were up and had already had their own breakfast from room service. The two women were gathering their belongings and preparing to check out. They were heading into the final stages of their plan and both women were ready.

"Okay Jackie, we're on our way. Soon you'll be with Nick and we'll be out of Vegas for good and home free." Allyson smiled at her sister. "Here, you need to be sure and take your meds." She added as she handed Jackie several different pills.

"I hate those pills." Jackie flinched at the pills.

"Jackie, you promised if we helped you get Nick then you'd continue taking your pills." Allyson scolded her older sister gently.

"Oh alright," she said as she took the pills and washed them down with the glass of juice Allyson also handed her. "As long as everything is working out and I get Nicky."

"Everything's on track, I promise. John called while you were in the shower and they're headed for the motel right about now; and we'll be there soon too."

"What's going to happen to the other men? I don't want them to ruin this for me." Jackie paused for a terrifying minute as she thought that they could ruin everything for her. She needed Nicky and she couldn't go back to that place. She'd die before she'd ever go back there.

"John will take care of them, don't worry. I promise they won't mess anything up." Allyson smiled at her reassuringly.

She hugged her sister as they gathered up their bags and exited the room to take the elevator to the parking garage. In the garage both women loaded their bags in Allyson's little blue Honda.

AN: Don't forget to read and review please!


	33. Chapter 33

08/30/2005 Same Day 8:30AM-9:00AM

Chapter Thirty-Three

Reilly stared at the woman through the two way mirror in the next room. She'd heard Lauren say that she didn't love Nick anymore, but had still been mad about him being the one to break up with her. She had visited her father while he was working and in the process had met John Smith. She had started talking to him because he said he didn't have anyone to visit him and she had told him about Nick and he had told her he could get her some payback for being dumped if she could get her father to help him get out of jail. She' been leery at first because he was in jail for a reason, but he'd been so kind and soft spoken and he had said all the right things, so she made her father help him.

But neither Lauren nor Coleman had known John was going to enlist the help of two other prisoners, especially Thompson and Jameson. The plan had been Smith would use Nick as a hostage to get away, then rough him up a little for dumping Lauren and make him regret it; then he'd leave Nick somewhere and get away to meet up with her afterwards. But he never showed for their meet.

She said her father knew it was wrong, but he'd done it or her, because she asked him to. He had compromised himself just to make Lauren happy. Coleman had found the book in Smith's cell with the note inside just before the scene was to take place. He hadn't known what it meant, but when he also found out that John was going to kill Waller as the diversion instead of just picking a fight with him as originally planned; he brought the book to the rec room and planted the hair and blood on it and left it under the couch that Waller was found by.

Coleman had tried to talk to Waller to warn him that John was going to kill him instead, but Waller said he already knew that and had agreed to that because Smith had someone wire money to his wife and son for his death.

She said her father had sent pizza to the two CSIs on swing shift that he knew and that it was laced with Ipecac to get them sick. He then called the Sheriff after reporting the crime to police and asked if he could have Stokes called in to be a part of the investigation because he'd heard Nick was a good CSI. And the rest is what they pretty much already knew, except neither Lauren nor her father knew who the unknown female related to Smith was. Only that he had to have someone on the outside to wire money for Waller and help him after he got out.

Coleman admitted to being Jason Hendler's father, but he didn't know how his prints could have gotten on the note and he was adamant that he was not involved in any way.

Lauren said they were both sorry about what had happened to Nick, but Reilly could not feel sorry for them right now. Because of them Nick was still out there at the mercy of Smith and the other two. Because of them she had lost Nick and wasn't sure how to get him back. She continued watching the woman as she wrote out her statement. She watched silently as tears rolled down her cheek.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Grissom and Brass walked into the room where Reilly stood and joined her at the mirror as she watched Lauren. Reilly didn't try and hide her tears. Grissom looked at her and he knew she was taking this hard. Hell they all were, but he didn't know how to comfort her so he just patted her on her shoulder.

Brass watched Grissom as Brass ended his phone call he had been taking and he raised an eyebrow at Grissom. Everyone knew Grissom wasn't good on the human level, but this was the most he'd seen of the man with the exception of how he handled himself when Nick had been buried alive. The man was getting better, he thought.

"What else did Coleman say?" Reilly asked, knowing Grissom was offering her comfort and knowing that Brass was watching them. She didn't need to take her eyes off Lauren to still see both men's reflections in the glass.

"He said basically everything Lauren has said so far and he wants to take all the blame. As a member of law enforcement, he knew it was wrong and he shouldn't have done it just for his daughter." Brass paused. "It's just amazing that everything in their plan went off without a hitch; at least for Smith. Coleman did say that Smith was a loner and the plan originally did not include Thompson and Jameson helping him to escape. He never knew Smith had even gotten them involved."

Reilly listened as she continued to watch Lauren. "But they have no clue where Nick is right now, do they?" She asked knowing the truth already.

"That's what they say." Grissom said looking down at Reilly.

"I was just on the phone with Vega and they found the warehouse where the guys stayed last night after boosting the Bronco. But they said they weren't they and that they had just missed them. They had abandoned the Bronco so they had to have had a car waiting for them there or they boosted another one and it hasn't bee reported yet. I'm sending dayshift CSI to process the scene and I've called Warrick and Vega back here. We need Warrick to help Archie search camera footage and I need Vega to find Hendler. He's not at his home and he hasn't gone into his office as of yet." Brass said.

"What did they find at the warehouse besides the Bronco?" Reilly asked, finally turning to look at Brass.

Brass sighed before he began. "They found Nick's CSI vest and some things from his pockets – gum, change and his wallet. They also found where he might have been kept secured in a storage room. It looked like the warehouse had been made ready for them beforehand. There was food, coffee and extra clothing at least for the prisoners because we found their orange jumpsuits discarded. They also found a black backpack with typed instructions on finding the warehouse from the bar. Probably was stashed in the alley behind the bar since Warrick found a huge oil leak in the alley like the car was parked there for a minute." Brass paused as he looked at Reilly. "They are definitely getting help from someone and my gut tells me it's someone from Nick's past."

"But who? I don't know of anyone from Nick's past that you guys don't already know of. I mean, you said it yourself, his stalker Nigel Crane is still in prison; Amy Hendler is still in prison and why would Jason care about Nick if he divorced her and has remarried? Besides Gil was the lead on that one and if he's mad at anyone I'd think he'd go after Gil first." Reilly said, looking between the two men. "Walter Gordon's dead and Kelly Gordon's still in prison. Who's left?" Reilly asked as she thought to herself. "I suppose it's possible it could be someone I don't know about or maybe someone with a grudge against his father, the judge, but if that were the case, his mother would have warned him." Reilly didn't mention to either of them that she'd already reached out to a contact in Texas and had them check on the Stokes family and nothing had been out of the ordinary with either his parents or his siblings.

"Shouldn't we call Nick's parents? I mean to let them know what's happened? I know Warrick said to hold off, but maybe we should let them know." Grissom asked her. "Normally that's my job, but I was hoping we wouldn't have to worry them."

"I already called them last night. They're staying available, but they won't be coming out." Reilly said looking up at Grissom.

"Why not?" Grissom was surprised by that, especially how they had dropped everything three months ago to rush to Vegas.

"No, I mean… Look Nick made them promise not to come if something happened to him again. He hated that they had seen him buried in that box and the pain they must have went through just watching him, so he make them promise not to come unless absolutely necessary or if he… if he were to die." She paused choking up a little bit at the conversation she'd had with his parents last night and how hard it had been to convince them not to come. "He didn't want them to witness him again and good or bad, live or die, he wanted them to wait for either outcome. He knew they couldn't do anything physically to find him any better than you guys could. And he made both me and Warrick promise to protect them the best we can from that pain ever again."

"He never told me that. Why didn't Nick talk to me?" But Grissom knew the answer. He wasn't much in the emotional department and Nick was. He wouldn't have understood then if Nick had told him. It was only now that he was just beginning to see how important emotions could be.

"Probably for the same reasons, Gil. He respected you and he didn't want you to be hindered with his parents and because he'd need you working hard to find him just like we all know you would." Reilly paused. "And because he's always felt like he's let you down, disappointed you somehow. He would want us to protect you just like his family." She added softly.

Grissom didn't know what to say, so he just looked at Reilly. Finally he said, "Nick thought that before, but he never has let me down. I am going to have a talk with Nick when we get him back and set him straight on that. He has never given me a reason to ever be disappointed in him."

Reilly smiled as she watched Grissom. He was an enigma. But in a good way. "So Jim, we know where they were, but how do we know where they are right now?" Reilly asked as she turned her attention back to Brass.

"We know there's a meeting in less than an hour somewhere and we know it can't be far from the warehouse because they can't just walk all over town with Nick in handcuffs or whatever or waving their guns around. I've got every square inch with in a five mile radius of that warehouse under surveillance and Archie is working on every camera he can get access to near that warehouse with Warrick helping him out." Brass answered her. "We will find Nick." He added.

"Will we find him in time?" She asked.

"Yes." Grissom answered for him. "We will find him in time." Come hell or high water Grissom was going to find that boy and get him back here where he belonged.

Reilly looked at Grissom surprised, but when she looked deep into his eyes she had the feeling he was telling her the truth; they would find Nick.

"Let me talk to her." Reilly said suddenly, taking both men by surprise. She even startled herself as she hadn't expected to say that, but suddenly she knew she had to.

"No." Grissom said quickly. "You're just a consultant on this case, you can't go in there. You're too close to this case anyway."

Reilly turned to look at him. "Excuse me, but we are all too close to this case and I don't technically need anyone's permission to question her if I want to." She looked back at Lauren. Now was not the time to worry about stepping on anyone's toes. "I'm gonna do this one way or another, but if you prefer Brass can be in there with me. I just need to look her in the eyes."

"Grissom looked at her. "What do you mean you don't need anyone's permission to question her?" Confusion showed on his face as he looked between Reilly and Brass for someone to answer him.

Reilly refused to answer so Brass heaved a heavy sigh as he watched Reilly. She expected him to tell Grissom. "Reilly why don't you go to the ladies room while I have a talk with Grissom since that's what you expect me to do anyway." He said to her.

Reilly had the good grace to avert her gaze from Brass to avoid the stern stare he would most definitely have leveled at her.

Once Reilly had left the room, Brass turned to Grissom. It was times like these when he understood why Nick and Reilly had clashed in the beginning. The woman could be a big pain in the ass when she wanted to. "Reilly isn't a private detective, Gil. Or a police consultant either. She's…"


	34. Chapter 34

08/30/2005 Same Day Same Time

Chapter Thirty-Four

Brass walked into the interrogation room where Lauren sat quietly finishing her written statement. Reilly came into the room right behind him.

"What's she doing here? She isn't a cop." Lauren said as she looked at Reilly but spoke to Brass.

Reilly could have sworn she'd seen fear in the woman's eyes for just the briefest of moments before she masked it with a cold stare.

No, maybe not, but I thought maybe you might want to visit with someone who knows you. You know, a friendly face; woman to woman." Brass smiled at the woman's discomfort at Reilly's presence.

"She is not a friendly face." Lauren sulked.

Reilly feigned surprise at Lauren. "Now Lauren, what's wrong with my face? I thought I was very friendly to you when you so rudely interrupted my dinner with my daughter." Reilly said walking over to take a seat directly across from Lauren while Brass chose to remain standing near the door. "You do remember that night, don't you? The night you told me all those lies about you and Nick."

Lauren chose to ignore Reilly's taunting.

"Lauren I just wanted to come here and ask you why." Reilly said looking the woman directly in the eye.

"Why what?" She asked perplexed.

"Why would you take it upon yourself to come to me and tell me all those things about Nick; why did you harass us endlessly for the last three months; why, if you are so in love with John Smith did you continuously call Nick at all times of the day and night to see if he was alone or with me? Why did you act like a woman scorned if you had John? But most of all I want to know why would you let John take Nick away from me?" Reilly leaned in close to Lauren. She looked deep in the woman's amber eyes and she saw it. There in Lauren's eyes was the truth. Lauren didn't love John Smith. Lauren was still in love with Nick. Reilly knew it as sure as she knew she herself loved Nick.

And Lauren realized at the same instance that she'd just revealed her feelings to Reilly and the woman now knew the truth. She didn't answer; she just sat looking at Reilly. Then she broke down crying. "I don't know. I let John talk me into it; into the whole mess, but I didn't want him to hurt Nick. Not ever. I just thought maybe he'd scare him for breaking up with me, but I still felt he'd come back to me. I mean, he'd come back before; but when I ran into him with you that first time a few weeks ago, I knew. I knew you were the one for him and I was so jealous." She choked out between sobs.

Reilly reached out and took the woman's hands in her own. "You were… are still in love with him, aren't you?" She waited for Lauren to slowly nod at her. "You only helped John because he threatened you, didn't he? You and your father?" Reilly paused letting her words sink into Lauren's brain. Reilly heard Brass sharply clear his throat and Reilly knew what he was warning her about; don't lead the girl. Don't give her anything that will help her or her father out of this mess.

And Reilly made a decision right then and there. She chose to ignore Brass. Something told her that Lauren hadn't planned any of this, she was just a pawn. She'd been duped and left to take the blame. And God help her, but she suddenly felt that she needed to do the right thing, regardless of which side of the thin line between right and wrong she stood on. "You were led on by John's smooth talk and his seeming to understand you and how you felt. He said all the right things to convince you, didn't he?"

Lauren stared at Reilly surprised. She was getting it. The girl was beginning to get what Reilly was doing for her and she slowly nodded her head at Reilly.

"But something changed, you realized it was wrong, didn't you? So he threatened you; forced you to keep quiet. He's going to get away with this and leave you and your father here to take the blame if you don't speak up, Lauren." Reilly paused as Lauren continued to cry. "What did Smith threaten you with? Who's helping him now that he's out? What are you about to give your life up for? Tell me what's more important to you than your own life?" Reilly pushed.

Lauren finally looked Reilly in the eye. "You," She said quietly. "He threatened to hurt you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick watched as Thompson pulled into the parking lot of the motel. They'd probably only gone maybe five or six miles from the warehouse and they were going to check into a motel? Nick looked questioningly at Smith.

"We won't be here that long, pretty boy. Just long enough." Smith said, but instead of looking at Nick as he said it, he looked at Thompson. "Okay, let's go and keep close to our boy here." He turned back to look straight at Nick. "Do not try anything or I swear it will be the last thing you do." Smith produced his gun and aimed it at Nick's chest.

Thompson got out and opened the passenger door and pulled Nick out. Nick watched as Jameson parked the truck next to the driver's side of the Envoy then get out and joined them as Smith led them directly to a room in front of the parked cars. No one noticed as Smith opened the door and Thompson pushed Nick inside the room.

The room looked like every other motel room Nick had ever seen in Vegas. There were two beds, a nightstand between the beds, 2 dressers, and a table with two chairs by the front window; the only difference here in this room was that there were two large duffel bags on the bed closest to the door.

Thompson pulled one of the chairs to the middle of the room and ordered Nick to sit down. Nick hesitated, but when he felt Smith's gun graze the side of his face, he slowly walked over to the chair. As he sat down he realized he'd been positioned to be the first thing anyone saw when they entered the room.

Thompson produced the handcuff key and he unlocked Nick's left wrist then brought both of his arms behind his back and re-cuffed his wrists tightly behind his back. Then he produced another long strip of cloth and proceeded to gag Nick as he'd been before. The three men then moved to position themselves behind Nick.

"Now what do we do?" Thompson asked Smith as he pulled up the other chair and sat down behind Nick on his left. He pulled out his gun and placed it in his lap as he relaxed.

Smith stepped back to stand just inside the entrance to the bathroom as Jameson chose to sit on the farthest bed from the door. "Now we wait for our money to walk through that door." Smith said as he reached behind himself into the bathroom for the package he knew was already waiting there.

Nick suddenly felt his heart in his throat at the words. He was being exchanged now, any minute. And no one would know where he'd gone once they left this room. _Oh God, what do I do now? I need help here. I need to get out of here._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Allyson drove her little blue Honda into the motel parking lot and pulled up next to the white truck already parked in the lot. She turned to look at her sister. "Are you ready?" She asked.

Jackie looked at the motel room door and she felt her insides heating up at the thought of Nick being behind that door waiting for her. She was excited and nervous; she could feel that old familiar feeling bubbling up inside her. She didn't trust herself to speak so she nodded as she looked at Allyson.

"Excited?"

Jackie nodded again. She slowly licked her lips as she allowed herself to embrace her feelings. "When.,.,. when we get him, how soon can I be alone with him?" She asked starting to rub her arms.

"As soon as we get out of here, don't worry." Allyson paused as she took in just how excited her sister was getting. She was a little unnerved at how her sister was looking. It reminded her of how she was before they'd taken her away; before their father had put Jackie in that hospital almost twenty-five years ago.

The older woman smiled eagerly. "Okay. Let's go." She opened her car door and got out. Both women looked at each other over the top of the car then they walked over to the motel room door.


	35. Chapter 35

08/30/2005 Same Day 9:00AM-9:30AM

Chapter Thirty-Five

"Me? What do you mean 'me'?" Reilly hadn't expected that answer. "Why would you worry about me?"

Lauren wiped at her eyes with the hanky Brass had politely handed her. "Look Reilly, I was jealous of you, but I'm not a total bitch. I couldn't let him hurt you or the baby and he told me he had someone who was watching you and would hurt you if I didn't help him." She paused. "At first John was so nice and he would listen, really listen to me; and he knew all the right things to say to make me feel I had been wronged. I trusted him; then my dad started piecing things together and I just didn't know who to believe anymore. Then when I found out you were pregnant, I knew I couldn't go through with it. But it was too late. I tried to talk him out of taking Nick, but he said it had to be Nick. I don't know why." She said adamantly.

"Who killed Waller?" Brass asked from his place at the door.

"John did. Waller volunteered; he was dying already and he was beginning to get sick and he didn't want to die from cancer stuck in bed the rest of his life. He had the socket wrench on him that John used to kill him. Dad found a note in a book in John's cell during a routine check and he planted the blood and hair from Waller on it and took it to the rec room to confuse the CSI and call everything into question they found concerning the murder of Waller. My father only helped during the jailbreak because of John threatening us; but he wasn't about to let Waller's murder go unsolved even if Waller didn't care. We both stuck to the original plan's story when you brought us in because John still has Nick and can still get to Reilly and any of you if he wants." Lauren said as she felt all her energy seeping away.

She was tired and it was hard admitting to all the things she'd done to Reilly and Nick. It was time to come clean and do the right thing by them. She felt a huge weight lifted as she told them everything she knew.

"Do you know anything that can help us find Nick?" Reilly asked gently.

"All I know is during the original plan we were to meet up today at noon at the Diamond Dust motel off the interstate, but I doubt he will keep that meet under the circumstances."

"Do you know who is helping him?" Brass asked.

"All John told me was he had a sister who'd married a rich guy here in Vegas and she'd get him all the money he needed for us to get out of the state." She replied, sniffling and wiping away the remainder of her tears.

"Do you remember if he told you her name?"

"Ummm… yes – once… God what did he call her?" She tried hard to remember. "Oh, yes - Ally… he called her Ally."

Reilly looked at Brass who nodded and stepped out of the room to make another call.

"You're sure that's the name he used?" Reilly asked her.

"Yes – it's short for Allyson I believe. That's all I know." Lauren said as she grasped Reilly's hands. "You have to believe me. I'm so sorry."

Reilly smiled softly at the other woman. "Okay Lauren – I want you to listen to me very carefully…" Reilly began.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly stepped out of the room to meet with Brass. "She's re-doing her statement." She told him simply.

Brass raised an eyebrow, but wisely decided not to say anything about it. Instead he said, "I just got off the phone with Sara; she's checking to see if Ally and Allyson Monroe-Hendler are the same person."

Before Reilly could say anything, Brass' phone rang in his hand.

"Brass." He replied as he answered it. "Okay – call CSI Warrick Brown and Det. Vega and have them meet me there. I'm leaving now." He ended his call and turned to look at Reilly. "We have a tip from an anonymous caller. Thompson's been spotted at the Three Aces motel off the interstate. I've got patrol rolling. I'll call you." He said to her as he turned and jogged out towards the exit.

Reilly stood there watching Brass take off down the hall, passing Grissom and Catherine coming out of the viewing room next door. Damn, Reilly thought, I forgot they were watching the whole interview with Lauren.

"You okay Reilly?" Catherine asked sensing the tension in the other woman.

"Yeah. I guess. Brass is having Sara check on Ally being possibly Allyson Monroe-Hendler and he's got a tip on Thompson. Someone called in after spotting him."

"Where?" Grissom asked.

"Ummm… the Three Aces motel." Reilly looked between Grissom and Catherine who was smiling. "You know where it is?" Reilly asked her.

"Yes, I do." Catherine said. "Coming Gil?"

"No." Grissom smiled at the two women. "I'll stay here and track down Allyson Monroe-Hendler and you two try and stay out of the line of fire with Brass. And call me." He turned to go into the room with Lauren. "I'm just gonna go over a few more things with Lauren and take care of things with her. And Reilly, no heroics." He smiled at her.

Reilly smiled back as she followed Catherine out of the building and to the parking lot.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Allyson raised her hand and knocked three times on the motel room door and after being invited in she turned the doorknob and slowly walked into the room. The first thing she saw was Nick Stokes bound and gagged sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. She smiled at him, then she found John behind him and she smiled at him.

"Well, looks like this is the right place." She said as she returned her eyes to Nick. "Hello, Nick. My name is Ally and this is my sister Jackie."

Her sister had followed her closely into the room and as Nick watched her step around from behind Ally she saw his eyes move from her to Jackie and then lock on Jackie. She saw first confusion then comprehension and then finally shock and fear all pass over Nick's face. "I see you recognize Jackie, Nick."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick looked up at the door when he heard the knock come three times. John spoke from behind Nick to his right and invited the visitors into the room. Nick watched the woman come into the room. She was a pleasant looking petite blonde probably in her mid thirties, but it was the other woman that entered behind her that caught Nick's attention.

At first he was confused and had to think. He felt he should know this other woman. It was after she stepped around the first woman that it hit him. _No, no, no… this can't be happening… this wasn't possible. This woman was institutionalized… she couldn't be here. Not here… How?_

After he'd joined the Dallas police department he'd followed her whereabouts closely. She'd been arrested and had gotten off if her family would get her the help she needed. Nick knew her family had put her in a mental institution where he thought she still was.

Nick turned back to the first woman, Ally, he thought she'd said. He blinked rapidly and started to squirm in his seat as Thompson jumped up to grip both of his shoulders and hold him in place.

Nick knew who this woman was and there was no way in hell he was going with her. He'd rather spend the rest of his life riding around with the three amigos than to ever spend one second in this woman's company again.

"I see you recognize Jackie, Nick." Ally said as she watched Nick struggle against Thompson's hold on him.

Nick tried to scream through the gag, but it didn't help. He was not doing this; he'd rather die.

"John. I think now would be a good time to send Nick here to naptime heaven." Ally said.

Since John had stayed behind Nick while they'd been waiting, he didn't see the reason why until John approached him in his peripheral vision. Nick turned to see him hand a filled syringe to Ally. Nick didn't like the looks of that at all. _No… no way… _He began struggling harder against Thompson's hold on him.

"Hold him still Thompson!" Smith yelled at the man as he reached out to hold onto Nick's right side forcing Thompson to take hold of Nick's left side. Together they were able to hold him still long enough for Ally to stab the needle into Nick's right thigh and press the plunger down quickly.

Almost immediately Nick felt his vision graying and he could see everything was becoming blurry. He stopped struggling as he felt his hold on consciousness slipping away. Everything was going black and the last thing he saw before he blacked out completely was the face of Jackie Monroe from when he was nine years old.


	36. Chapter 36

08/30/2005 Same Day 9:30AM-10:30AM

Chapter Thirty-Six

"Get him in the SUV." Ally said to the men. "And make sure you aren't seen."

Thompson and Smith gathered up Nick and carefully got him loaded into the back of the Envoy. Jackie quickly climbed behind the wheel of the vehicle and waited to follow Ally in her Honda. The men went back inside the room as the women left the parking lot.

John motioned to the duffel bags on the first bed. "That's clothes, toiletries, bus tickets and some petty cash. Everything you need for right now." He held up a key and handed it to Thompson. "This key is to a bus locker where you'll find your share of the money $300, 000 - $150,000 for each of you. I'm walking; take the truck and leave it at the bus station – I'll pick it up tomorrow and get rid of it. It would be a good idea to leave this motel asap. Nothing personal, but this is where we part ways guys. It's been great, but I have my own agenda now." John said as Thompson took the key and reached out a beefy hand to John. John hesitated for a moment then he reached out and shook it.

"Thanks John and good luck to you." Thompson said to the man.

"Yeah, thanks John." Jameson added.

"You too." John replied as he nodded to the men then turned and walked out of the room. He crossed the parking lot and took to the sidewalk heading for the other motel where he'd meet up with Ally and Jackie.

As John kept walking he pulled out the cell phone Ally had put in the black backpack from the alley behind the bar. He punched in 9-1-1 and made an anonymous call to LVPD about spotting the escaped convict Chris Thompson at the Three Aces motel. He completed the call and threw the phone in the nearest trash bin as he kept walking away from Thompson and Jameson.

He had just reached the parking lot of the Diamond Dust motel when he heard the first sirens approaching. He watched as the police cars sped by him towards their destination. He found room one-seventeen in the back out of sight of the main road where Ally and Jackie stood waiting for him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Catherine pulled her silver Denali into the parking lot and pulled up behind Brass' silver Crown Vic. They spotted the man standing behind a squad car talking to several officers at the scene. As the two women approached him, Catherine drew her weapon and stayed near Brass. Reilly decided she'd stay close to Catherine since she did not have a weapon.

The three turned to see Warrick and Greg pull up in their dark SUV and park behind Catherine's car. The two joined the others. Warrick also drew his weapon while Greg stayed close to Reilly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Warrick asked Reilly. "If anything happens to you, Nick will kill me. You're pregnant."

"Gee thanks for telling me. I was beginning to think I was just getting fat." She replied sarcastically. "Look, if Nick is in that room, I'm not going to be somewhere else." She added with fire in her eyes. "I dare you to try and remove me from this scene." She stood toe to toe with Warrick even if he was a whole head taller than her.

"I don't care why any of you are here." Brass yelled at the four of them. "But you all better do exactly as I say. This is my scene and I'm in charge here. Greg, you don't have a weapon, so you need to be back and down out of sight. Now."

"Hey, Reilly doesn't have a gun either and she's pregnant! She needs down too." Greg yelled back as Reilly gave him a sour look. He took a quick step back from her just to be safe.

Brass looked at Reilly. "He's right." He said to her as he reached into the backseat of the squad car and pulled out a Kevlar vest and handed it to her. "Put this on." He then reached in the front of the car and unhooked the shotgun there and handed it to Reilly. "Don't make me regret this. Please be careful."

"What the hell are you doing Brass? Are you kidding me?" Catherine asked shocked at what he was doing. Why was he arming Reilly?

Reilly handed the shotgun to Greg. "Hold this for me for a second, please?" She asked as she slipped the vest over her head and fastened the side straps. Then she took the gun back from him. "Extra ammunition?" She asked Brass as she checked the gun was loaded.

"Glove box." He answered her. "And no, Catherine, I'm not kidding."

"Are we the only ones here who think you've finally lost it by arming a pregnant woman?!" Warrick yelled at him.

Greg and Catherine nodded in agreement with Warrick.

"That's why I had her put the vest on; plus she's away from any direct fire and it's just in case." He answered.

"Oh yeah, that makes it so much better; having her put on the vest and all." Catherine mocked him.

"In case of what? Is the world coming to an end where we need to arm even the pregnant women now?" Greg asked shocked beyond reason. Brass had finally lost it. "I sure as hell wouldn't want to be you when Nick finds out." He added.

"Ummm… standing right here guys. Nick does not tell me what I can and cannot do and I will not be putting my baby in harm's way, trust me on that. I'm not an idiot." Reilly yelled at the three.

"Now is not the time to go into this. You can attack my sanity later. For now you all stay put." Brass walked back to the front of the car away from them and back to the action in the motel.

Reilly looked at the three of them as they stared at her. "Look guys I'm sorry, but there's a very good reason for this and I promise I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm staying right here unless Brass needs me. I promise." She said as she slowly moved to stand behind Brass at the front of the car.

The three CSIs exchanged confused looks. "Okay, this officially just got interesting." Greg said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thompson turned from the motel window to look at Jameson. "Looks like we were spotted or set up. There are cops everywhere out there, dude." He reached for one of the guns he'd laid out on the bed so he could change clothes before packing them away. "Smith or those women maybe."

"What do we do? I don't want to shoot it out!" Jameson said the gun in his own hand shaking.

"You'd rather spend the next twenty-five to life in prison?!" Thompson yelled. "I'm not going back ever so if you want out then get out, otherwise stay out of my way!" He added as he pulled Jameson's gun out of his hand before he shot him with it.

Before Thompson could do anything else, something large came crashing through the big plate glass window in the room. Jameson was the first one to react.

"Tear gas!" He screamed as he started coughing. He ran for the door, yanked it open and ran outside waving his hands in the air to surrender.

"Stop you idiot! It's not tear gas… it's a… it's a God damn rock! They tricked us!" Thompson said as he spied the object on the floor. He tried to stop Jameson but he was already out the door and running right into the arms of the waiting cops.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hold fire! Repeat… Hold fire!" Someone yelled as all guns were aimed at Jameson and the doorway in anticipation of anyone else coming out of the room.

Two officers rushed forward and dragged Jameson clear of the room and had him cuffed and locked in a waiting squad car in record time.

Brass tried to talk to the remaining prisoners as he assumed Smith was still with them via a bullhorn, but he was being ignored. Reilly looked at Brass as he continued to try. Finally he turned to her and said, "They're not coming out on their own. Long shot?" He asked her.

Reilly knew what he was asking her and she nodded her agreement. He handed her his car keys and took the shotgun from her. She took the keys and went over to the trunk of his car and opened it. She reached in and as Brass and the other CSIs watched she pulled out a long range sniper rifle. She grabbed several of the special bullets stuffing them in her jeans pocket as she closed the trunk of the car.

She walked away from the scene to the lobby of the motel which was about a hundred yards away and directly across from the room. She took the outside stairs to the second floor of the motel and she got into position using the balcony railing as support for the barrel of the rifle and she adjusted the scope to bring the room below into focus.

Reilly looked through the scope and was able to spot a figure in the room through the open curtains now blowing gently in the wind. The figure was crouched down between the two beds with a gun in each hand. He was waiting for them to come in. Reilly pulled out her cell phone and called Brass.

When he answered she said, "Only one guy in there, looks like Thompson. Can't miss that tattoo on his head. I don't see Smith or Nick. He's crouched down between the two beds and if you try to rush him you'll get him, but he'll take out some of you out if you do."

"Okay. How about we shoot off a couple warning shots at him and you take him out when he tries to return fire?" Brass asked.

"What the hell are you doing Brass?" Catherine asked as Warrick and Greg agreed with her. This was getting way out of hand. What was Reilly doing? Catherine couldn't understand how Brass could let a pregnant woman even be here let alone have her play sniper? Someone had better tell her something that made sense in all this and they'd better tell her soon.

"Go ahead and tell them something then shoot. I'll be ready." Reilly instructed after overhearing Catherine. She hung up and waited.

Brass sighed, _why is it always me who has to tell? He thought._ "Reilly is a special agent with the KBI. She's a member of the Kansas Attorney General's special response team. She has jurisdiction here if I allow it and I am. If the investigation calls for federal help, she usually comes in under the guise as a police consultant. She has the authority to lead this investigation if she chooses to, but she won't. She's just here to back us up." Brass told them as he crouched down behind the patrol car. "She also happens to be the best sniper here right now since SWAT hasn't arrived yet." He took careful aim at the open door of the motel room.

"What?" Warrick was stunned.

Catherine looked up at Reilly then back to Brass. "Okay. That I understand." She said.

"Wow." Greg said. "Hey, does Nick know?" He asked.


	37. Chapter 37

08/30/2005 Same Day 10/:30AM-11:30AM

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"I need all officers to stand down! Repeat… Stand down!" Brass yelled out as he stood and fired two quick shots into the motel room's door. He wasn't aiming to hit anyone, just to draw Thompson out of his hiding spot. He knew there was no other choice here; Thompson wasn't going back to jail; he'd already told Brass that at the very beginning of all this. Brass accepted that and his only thought was, he'd wished he could be the one who was putting the bullet in him.

Reilly was waiting for Brass' shots; her signal; never taking her eyes off the man who'd first grabbed Nick; who'd first put Nick in this situation; for taking him away in the first place. She waited for Thompson to stand up and when he did she didn't let him get a chance to return fire. Reilly squeezed the trigger on the rifle and fired one shot at Thompson hitting him dead center in the chest. She watched him go down and knew he was dead before he hit the floor.

She continued to watch as three officers rushed the room to check on him. When one officer gave Brass the all clear she slowly lowered the rifle and felt her heart drop. Unless Jameson could give them something, she'd just closed the book on finding Nick.

She reached under her vest and with one hand touched her tummy and silently whispered to herself and her baby, 'we'll find him.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ally Monroe-Hendler walked past her husband's secretary with John Smith following closely behind her. They had entered Jason's office building the same way Jason himself always did; through the underground tunnel that connected his office building with the parking garage. No one knew about the tunnel except the prominent tenants of the building and Jason was a very prominent tenant.

When the secretary stood to greet Ally, John Smith turned and shot the woman twice. Ally didn't even stop to see what had happened with the woman; she just kept heading for her husband's office.

She opened the door to his office and saw him as he was rising from his desk chair to investigate the noises he'd just heard from outside his office.

Jason's offices were on the tenth floor of the building and no other employees were present on this floor, however there were other business in the building. Ally knew they wouldn't have much time so she hurried into the office.

As Jason rose from his chair, he saw Ally and John enter the room. "Ally, what's going on? What was that noise out there?"

The woman smiled at her husband and replied, "It's not important, Jayce." Then she took a step to her right to reveal John behind her with his gun aimed at Jason. "Sorry about this dear, but I'm going to have to terminate our marriage."

With that said, John fired three times at Jason bringing the man down where he stood. As he was falling, he saw the look on his wife's face and he had one clear moment before everything went black where he suddenly realized that he had incredibly bad luck with women.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What the hell is going on here Brass? Reilly?" Catherine Willows demanded; she was beside herself. She did not like being left out of anything or lied to. Especially if that something had to do with one of her friends; and Nick Stokes was definitely her friend. And up until about 5 minutes ago, she had thought Reilly was a friend, too. But since Reilly had been keeping secrets, she wasn't sure what was going on with their friendship now.

"Look Catherine, all of you, I'm really sorry. I'm a special agent and I wasn't able to just walk around and tell everyone I met who I was." Reilly paused to lean against the squad car and remove her Kevlar vest. "My job requires anonymity and I cannot jeopardize that. I am a legitimate private investigator most of the time and I am an authorized police consultant. That's what gets me access to the cases. Cases that are cold or have stalled. It's easier for me to walk among law enforcement if they think of me as a consultant not as a Fed. I never meant to outright lie to any of you, but it was important. Please understand that. You are all my friends." Reilly pleaded with them as she looked at all three of them and their bewildered expressions.

"Okay, so you're kind of like Agent Scully right?" Greg asked smiling at her. "Like the X-Files?"

Reilly smiled back at him; leave it to Greg. "No; it's more like Five-O, the newer show. The governor created the Five-O team on the show, but for me it was the Attorney General who created my team."

Warrick smiled. "Cool. Makes you kind of like a superhero. You get to swoop in when cops need help taking down the bad guy then you leave under cover of darkness not seeking to claim the spotlight; leaving all the glory to the police."

Catherine thought about for a second. "That I can get behind. Yeah… I like that much better; getting to be a superhero. Maybe you can get me one of these special agent gigs here in Nevada."

"Yeah, if Reilly were to move here, then you two could be a major crime fighting superhero duo." Warrick said chuckling. "But seriously, does Nick know?" He added.

"Yes; he knows. He's known since the very beginning practically. When I came here to Vegas to find my goddaughter, Lexie. I told him when we started seeing each other." She replied. She thought about how Nick has reacted to the news. It took him a bit to accept that he couldn't tell anyone. "He wasn't thrilled he couldn't tell you guys, but he understood. And I hope you guys understand too and will keep my secret. Right now Brass, Nick, Grissom and you three are the only ones here who know. I think it's only fair I should tell Sara too, since you all now know, but that's all I can afford to have know; and now that you all do know it's very important you put it aside and sort of forget it and continue to just think of me as a consultant."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jackie Monroe looked at Nick lying on the motel room's only bed. John had re-cuffed him to the headboard of the bed and tied his ankles to the legs at the foot of the bed and he still wore the gag. And he was so beautiful lying there. More handsome than she even remembered. He'd grown into a very handsome young man.

Ally and John had left to take care of some loose ends and had left her there with Nick. She was dying to touch him, but Ally had said it was better to wait until they were at the cabin and safely out of Vegas.

But she wanted him so badly it hurt and he was so gorgeous lying there unconscious. He was hers; so what would a little touching hurt? With trembling fingers she slowly undid the buttons on Nick's shirt and pulled the fabric aside to see his bare chest. She gently laid her hands on his exposed flesh and caressed his skin.

Maybe if she was careful and hurried, no one would know she thought. She thought about all those years lost as she wasted away in that asylum; that awful place with all those crazy people. She wasn't crazy; she just had an addiction, like an alcoholic and they didn't end up in a crazy place. It was so unfair that she had just because she was unable to fight her urges sometimes. She was completely sane; she just needed to touch, to feel, to be a part of…

She realized after Nicky, she could never really touch another boy. Nicky had been the one; none came close to what he'd been for her and she'd ached so badly when she'd never seen him again. She'd tried; oh how she'd tried, but she'd failed to see him again and then she met Alex. Little Alex had looked just like her Nicky, and because of that she couldn't refuse him. But when she realized he wasn't like her Nicky at all, she'd been angry. She hadn't meant to hurt Alex, but…

That's when she'd been put in that damned place with all the crazy people and that's where she became a victim. She'd been abused, beaten down, assaulted all because they said it was treatment. For over twenty years she had been hidden away in there trying her best to keep her soul intact and not lose herself entirely. It had taken her this long to convince the doctors she was better that she knew what she'd done. It had taken her this long to fool everyone into letting her out. And that's when she'd turned to Ally for help with Nick.

She reached down for Nick's belt buckle and undid it as she thought back to the very first time she'd seen Nicky. She'd been called on as a last minute babysitter because his parents had suddenly needed to go away on urgent business. He'd been sick and his parents didn't want him to travel with them and the his other siblings, so they'd called upon a girl who always watched the Stokes children, but she'd been unavailable and Jackie, a friend of hers from High School, had volunteered to come stay with him overnight while his family was out of town.

AN: I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews and I'm updating as fast as I can! Again Thank you!


	38. Chapter 38

08/30/2005 Same Day 11:30AM-1:30PM

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Nick thought he must be dreaming. He felt like he was floating, yet tethered to something. Something was holding him in a sort of limbo. Then he felt the touch to his chest. Stroking… someone was stroking his chest. Maybe it was Reilly, he thought… but that couldn't be right. If it was Reilly, he would have liked the feeling; and this touch felt all wrong to him; it was not right. Something was not right.

When he felt the touch move lower, he thought it had to be Reilly, who else could it be? So he closed his mind to the bad feeling and told himself it was Reilly. He pictured her face and he pushed the cold feelings away and allowed himself to cling to the image of only Reilly until he was drifting in a purple haze of blissful sleep and he slowly allowed himself to return to the soft cushion of nothingness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

John was behind the wheel of their new stolen vehicle, a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee as he slowly pulled the car close to the back side of the cabin they'd rented near Lake Mead. Most of the cabins here were closer to the lake itself, but they had taken advantage of this one because it was the farthest from the lake and the main road.

In the back of the car Nick lay bound and gagged and covered with a blanket amongst the luggage there. He was still unconscious and not aware of his surroundings. John was able to carry Nick into the cabin without anyone the wiser.

John took him into the back bedroom of the cabin and Jackie helped him to secure Nick to the bed there as he had been in the motel room. Then he left Ally to handle Jackie while he brought in the luggage and supplies they'd picked up on the way.

John was not thrilled to still be lugging the CSI around, but he did it for Ally who was doing it for Jackie. John hadn't been there when Ally had tried as a kid to take care of her older sister and he hadn't been there when their father had put Jackie in the institution after the death of that boy.

It was time for him to step up and be the brother they needed and while he wasn't thrilled with Jackie, he would move Heaven and Earth for Ally. So he'd help Jackie for Ally; at least for now. But he knew he'd need to talk to Ally about everything with Jackie; he needed to show her just unstable Jackie was becoming.

When they'd returned to the motel after taking care of Jason Hendler, he'd seen it in Jackie's eyes. She was on the edge and he knew it was because she'd been left alone with Nick. He'd seen how the man's clothing didn't exactly look right, he knew she'd done something to the man. He had been a soldier and he knew when someone was becoming unhinged. Jackie was heading for full blown crazy bitch mode and he wanted himself and Ally as far from her as they could get when she finally lost it all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick tried to open his eyes, but they felt so heavy, and his mouth felt so dry and… he moved his tongue around in his mouth to feel… he could feel something in his mouth. Something scratchy. He continued to feel it with his tongue as he tried to remember where he was.

He tried to move his hand up to his face to feel what it was in his mouth, but his hands wouldn't move. It took him a second to realize that neither one of his hands would move. He managed to get his eyes open and everything seemed blurry and it was tilting sideways, but after a moment things began to swim into focus. He was in a room… and the walls looked strange. They looked like… he blinked several times to be sure he was seeing… yes the walls were made of logs. He was in a log cabin.

He looked up at where he figured his hands were and saw that they were handcuffed to the headboard of a… a bed made of logs. He looked down at his legs and saw his ankles were also restrained. So he figured by his brilliant deduction skills that the obstruction in his mouth was a gag. He tried to move, but he was restrained too tightly.

He closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing down while he tried to think where he was and how he got here. He remembered waking up that morning? Was it still the same day? He didn't know and that thought alone caused him to start panicking. Where the hell was he?

He tried again and this time when he was more relaxed he was able to remember the warehouse then going to the motel, but he couldn't remember after that. What had happened at the motel? He sighed, he couldn't remember.

And just as he was ready to give up on trying to remember anything at the moment, the door to the room opened and she came in. _Her… Oh, God… it was her! He remembered now… he remembered it all… the motel room… being tied up and forced to wait for her… It had been her. She was the last person he had expected to see. She was the last minute babysitter for him when he had been only nine years old. And she was here now smiling at him. She was not supposed to be here. She was not!_

"Hello Nicky, sweetheart. Remember me?" She cooed sweetly at him. Jackie waked into the room and slowly sat on the bed next to Nick.

When she sat down, Nick tried to move away from her, but he couldn't move much. She reached out a hand to touch his face and he flinched and tried to scream at her to not touch him… to get away from him! But he couldn't move and he couldn't get sound past the gag in his mouth. He was helpless here.

"Oh Nicky, don't be like that. Haven't you missed me? I've certainly missed you." She said in her soft southern drawl. She produced a syringe from a pocket of her jeans and pulled the cap off. "I think it's time you went back to sleep. You're much more accommodating when your asleep. And I've got big plans for us." She smiled at the way Nick's eyes went wide with shock at the sight of the needle. "You've been a busy boy lately, Nicky; passing around your seed. Tsk tsk tsk… getting two tramps pregnant at the same time. You really should have been more careful."

She reached out with the syringe and paused over his right leg as she added, "Since you seem to be so viral, I've decided I want a sample of you for myself. I'm not too old to have a baby… after all I'm only a few years older than one of your girlfriends. I think I should be able to have a little Nicky of my very own." She said smiling as she slowly inserted the needle into his thigh and pressed the plunger.

Nick was in shock. This couldn't be happening. The last thing he thought before he slipped into a blissful sleep was her words, '_you're much more accommodating when you're asleep.'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You are not going to believe this guy." Brass said to Reilly and Catherine as he met them in the hallway just outside the interrogation where Larry Jameson was sitting at a table. They had just arrived back at the police department and were waiting for Brass to come out of the room.

"Why?" Catherine asked.

"The guy says he needs a hospital so he can be treated for tear gas poisoning." Brass smiled as he looked in the window of the door at Jameson who was continuously wiping his eyes with his hands and rubbing his face.

Both women laughed at that. "Okay, so which one of us gets to go in there and talk to the nice escaped convict with no brain cells?" Reilly mocked as she turned to Brass.

"Oh, you're gonna love this," He said pointing a finger at each of the women. "You both are going in." He smiled at them. "Seems our guy also thinks he's God's gift to women,. He's been winking at every female he's seen since we brought him in."

"Well that could just be the tear gas still in his eyes." Catherine said, smiling at Reilly. "Shall we?"

"Oh yes. Definitely."


	39. Chapter 39

08/30/2005 Same Day 3:00PM-6:30PM

Chapter Thirty-Nine

_"So Stokes, where are you from?" Reilly asked the good-looking CSI she was forced to have trailing behind her as they went over the crime scene of the crappy little house on the crappy side of Vegas._

_Nick turned to look at the woman. God, she was impossible. How she even got clearance to be here on scene with him was beyond him; let alone getting to see and hear every detail of this case. He didn't know where Brass' head was at lately; when he told Nick to take the woman with him as he went back over the house again for anything that could have been missed the first time. He continued using his flashlight to glide over the inside of the living room looking without answering the woman._

_"So, cat got your tongue there, Stokes?" Reilly tried again as she turned and shone her flashlight beam directly in Nick's eyes._

_Nick blinked and brought up his hand to block the light from his eyes. "Hey, woman shine that light somewhere else, will ya?" He said as his soft southern drawl spiked a little with his raised voice._

_Reilly smiled as she moved the beam from his face. "Texas. Definitely a Texas boy." She said with a hint of pride in her voice as she watched Nick blinked a couple times to clear his vision._

_"Oh yeah? How can you tell?" He asked her mildly surprised that she had guessed correctly._

_"Three brothers all born and raised in Texas. Sometimes I can even bring out my own drawl when I get angry enough." She said as she let her voice trail off into that old life she had growing up. "Ya'll wanna tell me what part o Texas you's from there, science guy?" She smiled at him as she continued in the relaxed southern drawl._

_Nick smiled at her. "Guess. I thought you were from Kansas. How'd you end up in Texas?"_

_"Great story – short version – my mom met my dad after World War II back in 1945 at a military hospital in Kansas where he was recovering from a wound he got during the Invasion of Normandy Beach. Mom's from Kansas and Dad was from Texas. They fell in love and got married in the hospital and they moved to Texas when he was released. They had two boys in Texas and after eighteen years moved back to Kansas because my mom's mother was dying. Mom got pregnant with me, shocked her to hell and after that they moved back to Texas and I got a baby brother too. Dallas?" Reilly asked as she finished her story and looked at him._

_"What?" Nick asked confused._

_"Dallas – your from Dallas. My two older brothers are from Dallas and my youngest is from McKinney." She paused looking down. "I'm not really that bad, Stokes."_

_"Oh yeah? Something tells me that's all in who you ask." Nick replied as he watched her._

_"Well, maybe I'll show you how bad I am after I find Lexie." Reilly bent down and scooped up the bracelet and held it out dangling from one gloved finger. "This is Lexie's I gave it to her. She was here." She said all playfulness gone in an instant._

_Nick reached a gloved hand out to take the bracelet. This case just got more confusing. She gave the bracelet to Lexie meant this was personal. She had a stake in this missing girl._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Maybe we should leave for awhile John, you know give Jackie some time alone with Nick?" Ally asked John. She didn't want to be around when Jackie got this excited.

Ally had no problem killing if she had to, she had no problem kidnapping and she definitely had no problem with any of the crimes they'd already committed; but when she saw just how excited her sister was getting at the prospect of being with Nick, it unnerved her. She was beginning to worry that maybe hr sister had been released a bit prematurely. She seemed to be headed off into her own little world and it could spell catastrophe for Ally and John.

"Yeah… I was thinking that too." The man said watching his older sister sitting at the kitchen table just staring at the bedroom door where Nick was as she rubbed her arms and rocked back and forth saying Nick's name over and over to herself. "I'm all for helping my sisters out, but I'm beginning to worry about Jackie." He moved outside the front door where he'd been headed when Ally had stopped him. "I have no love lost for the CSI guy, to me he's just like a cop, but watching Jackie sit there and rock like that; it gives me the creeps. Maybe we should try and get her to take more of her medication."

"I know." Ally said as she followed her brother outside. "She didn't look like this until we left the two alone this morning. I think she was… you know with him like she's done before. Maybe you need to give her something different in her syringes for Nick. Maybe if he dies and she thinks she did it, she'll either get over him or maybe she'll go completely over the bend and we can just put her back in the hospital."

"Yeah… that sounds good. I can do that now and then we can make some excuse to be away from the cabin when she gives it to him. She can give him a fatal overdose and we can be rid of him and we can call the authorities anonymously and they can put Jackie back in the hospital and maybe she will get the care she needs. I'm thinking she's gonna need that hospital for the rest of her life. I don't think she'll ever be able to function in society." John said as he thought things through.

"Okay, sounds like the only way." Ally agreed as she watched Jackie from the doorway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, Mr. Jameson, you want to tell me everything you can about John Smith and how he recruited you and Mr. Thompson to help him break out of jail using CSI Nick Stokes?" Catherine asked as the two women sat across from the unkempt man who was badly in need of a breath mint.

"What's in it for me little lady?" The man asked wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"I'll tell you what's in it for you." Reilly said as she stood up and leaned on the table to cower over the poor excuse of a man in her book. "I won't reach out and break your nose if you tell us everything and start with how we can find Nick." She looked just menacing enough.

"You? You can't break my nose. I'm in police custody. You can't hurt me." He laughed at Reilly. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Oh no?" Reilly reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a small canister that looked like pepper spray. She held it up for the man to see. "How about I make you cry some more how about that?" She asked as she aimed the bottle at his face. When all else fails go for the weaknesses she thought.

The man put his hands up over his face and began to talk non-stop for the next ten minutes. He told them everything he knew, including admitting to stealing his cousin's custom Harley 30 years ago and crashing it in a retaining wall when he was barely nineteen.


	40. Chapter 40

08/30/2005 Same Day 6:30PM-7:30PM

Chapter Forty

Brass looked at the women as they came out o the interrogation room. Warrick was with him in the hall and he didn't look too happy.

"You do know we aren't allowed to threaten suspects in police custody, don't you?" He asked eyeing the bottle still in Reilly's hand.

"What?" Reilly said feigning innocence. "I didn't threaten him with pepper spray. I simply let him _assume _I was threatening him with pepper spray. But I really should have sprayed this entire bottle in his mouth." She said as she brought the bottle up to her mouth and sprayed a quick burst. "Hummm… minty fresh. Would you like a hit of breath spray, Warrick?" She asked all innocent as she held the bottle out for him to see.

Warrick couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. "And it was probably your idea to throw the rock in the motel room window instead of Brass wasn't it?"

Brass looked at Warrick. "Hey, whatever Reilly accomplishes I get to take credit for, remember?" He turned back to Reilly. "So what do you got?"

"He says two women took Nick from the motel with Smith's help. One of the women matches Ally's description that Sara got on her. He didn't know why the women wanted Nick, but he said Nick got really upset at the sight of the other woman Ally called her sister. He said there were two cars in the warehouse, the white pickup and a red GMC Envoy SUV that they took off with Nick inside and Ally drove a blue Honda. He also said the women took the cars and left Smith to give them their things and a key to a bus locker where their payoff is supposed to be and that Smith left the motel on foot." Catherine said filling them in.

The only other motel within walking distance is the Diamond Dust two blocks up." Brass said.

Reilly looked up at Brass, "Brass, that's the motel Lauren said Smith told her to meet him at after the jailbreak in their original plan. Could they have been stupid enough to use the same motel? I mean if they already had it booked for Smith in case he really had to meet up with Lauren, they could still be using it." This was their glimmer of hope. Maybe they were still in this.

"I'll get some uniforms over there now to check for them or the Envoy." Brass reached for his cell phone as he turned to leave. "And no, you stay put this time. You know the odds as well as I do." He added pointing at Reilly before moving away.

"We're getting closer, Reilly." Warrick said gently.

"I know. I just wish…" She let the sentence trail off as she tried to control her emotions. "What else did Sara get on Ally?" She asked instead.

"She's also from Dallas, same area as Nick and she has an older brother and an older sister. The sister has been institutionalized for the past twenty odd years for the death of a ten year old boy, Alexander Bailey. The records for some reason are sealed, but we do know she was recently released. Her name is Jackie Monroe and the brother is John Smith."

Reilly's head jerked up as she heard the name. "You're kidding?" She asked.

"No…John Smith is her brother." He confirmed.

"No not Smith; the other name?" She asked.

"Jackie Monroe, the sister?" He asked confused.

"Huh…yeah. Sara's sure about that?"

"Pretty sure. Jackie and Ally are from their father's marriage to their mother, but John was the product of an affair with his secretary. Both Jackie and John have been in trouble, but there isn't anything we can find on Ally. When their parents died in a car crash about fifteen years ago, Ally inherited a lot of money, and she's been off the radar herself." Warrick said reading from the file in his hands.

Brass walked back to the group just then. "Guess what gang? We have a witness at the Diamond Dust motel. Seems the desk clerk was watching the news and recognized John Smith. He called the tip line and I just got the message when requesting uniforms to the guy's address. He said smith was there at the motel with two women, but isn't there now. He said he does have some important information on where they could be though. I'm on my way to talk to him and Warrick you're with me. I'll call you Reilly as soon as we get something." Brass said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly watched as Sara sat at the computer running down any other information she could get on Ally, Jackie and John through every system they had. Greg was working with Archie on camera footage from the Three Aces motel. Catherine was running interference between them and making phone calls to Grissom and Brass.

Warrick called in on Reilly's phone to report that the Ally Monroe had booked the room and paid cash for two nights. When she left the motel, the desk clerk jotted down the license plate of her Honda and then of all the vehicles that they came and went in. The Honda and the Envoy were found in the parking lot and were both rentals. But the attentive desk clerk also happened to get the plate number for a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee that he'd seen Smith drive up in.

"Seems he left the women and went off on foot and came back about twenty minutes later with the Jeep. The clerk said the plates were out of state, Nebraska. Brass is running it now."

"Okay." Reilly said. "Let us know what he finds out. I'll have Arch and Greg run back through camera footage for places near the Diamond Dust since it only took him twenty minutes in total to get the car."

"Hang on; Brass just got word. The Jeep was reported stolen forty-five minutes ago from the parking lot of a restaurant four blocks from here. I'm texting you the plate number and the police report number. Have Greg see if he can get the camera footage from the restaurant."

"Got it." Reilly said as she hung up and waited for his text. After she got the text she handed her cell to Greg to copy down the information. "Look guys, I'm getting kind of light-headed; think I'll go to the break room to sit for a little bit."

The others agreed she should rest and they all agreed to call her if anything came up. She smiled meekly at them because they were working so hard to find Nick, but she knew she needed something more; something that they couldn't get for her quick enough. She retrieved her phone back from Greg and she walked out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as Reilly headed down the hall and out of their view, she punched a number into her cell that she knew by heart. She needed to cross channels here and get something that the CSIs could not get in time to save Nick.

"Hey, Brad, I need your help. I'm calling in a favor here… yeah a really big favor and yeah it's for Nick. I'm sending you an address of a motel here in Vegas and I need you to pull the satellite access and get me a lock on a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee that left that lot anytime within the last two hours and I need you to send that access to Archie so he can follow that car. I need everything and anything you can get me on that car… yes, Nick is in that Jeep." She waited a few beats. "Get what you can from Nellis if you have to… I don't care how you get it… lie if you have to, you're good at that." She listened then slowly smiled. "Thanks Brad." She disconnected then punched in another number.

"Arch, Reilly. We're off the grid on this, but I got you satellite coverage out of Nellis and you should be able to get access soon. Follow that Jeep and get me a lock on its location." She listened for a second. "I'm heading back to you now and don't worry I'll handle everyone."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Catherine, can I talk to you a minute in private?" Reilly asked as she came back into the room a while later. She had just gotten the text from Archie on a location and she avoided looked at him now.

"Yeah, sure." Catherine answered as she followed Reilly out of the room and into the hall.

"I need you to help me. I know where Nick is." Reilly answered.

AN: Please keep those reviews coming in and we are heading into the last few chapters of the book - the end is coming!


	41. Chapter 41

08/30/2005 Same Day 7:30PM-9:30PM

Chapter Forty-One

"If you know where Nick is, then let's go. We can call Brass and –" Catherine started.

"No!" Reilly interrupted her.

"What?" Catherine asked startled.

"Sorry Catherine; I mean we have to go alone. I don't have time to explain and normally I'd do this alone, but being pregnant limits my options here." Reilly said trying not to sound rude. "I'm sorry I don't mean to sound like I want to push anyone out, but it's just that I can't tell anyone else."

Catherine looked at her. "Tough; you want my help you're going to have to give me more than that."

"Okay." Reilly sighed. "You are the only person here that Nick's told about what happened to him when he was nine." She waited as Catherine slowly nodded. "Jackie Monroe was the name of that last minute babysitter." She paused to let her words sink in. "I didn't put it together with Ally and John until Warrick mentioned_ her_ name. Nick was taken by that woman and I have to get him back before she… before she can hurt him again." She paused again, this time to get her own emotions in check. "I called in a favor and got Archie satellite access to everything big brother can see and he's got a lock on the Jeep."

Catherine turned around to look back at Archie still in the lab behind her. He turned to see them looking his way and he smiled and waved at them.

"I need to find him first Cath; we can call Brass on the way there, but we have to be there first. Just in case… well just in case." Reilly's voice choked a bit as she tried not to think of what could be happening to Nick.

"Okay…okay; but we're gonna need help; we can trust Greg and Sara and they don't have to know anything else right now. You can tell them later if need be, but they can help."

"Alright; you get them and meet me outside in the parking lot. I'll get my car and pick you up. I'm driving a Gold Tahoe and I have lots of accessories."

"Gotcha."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Catherine rode shotgun in Reilly's SUV while Sara sat in back with Greg who was working the laptop that Archie was transmitting directions to locate the Jeep.

"Take a right at the next stop. They're at Lake Mead somewhere off this road." Greg instructed Reilly.

Reilly took the next right, barely stopping for the stop sign. No one was coming so it really didn't matter if she stopped or not in her mind. She was getting nervous and she knew they were about to find Nick. She knew it. She just hoped they were in time.

"He's okay Reilly." Catherine soothed, noticing how Reilly was white-knuckling the steering wheel. "Nick's strong and he knows we won't give up on finding him."

Reilly turned to look at her, smiling her thanks. "I just have so many things I need to tell him; and… and I need him to know."

"We'll make it Reilly." Sara said from behind Reilly. "We will."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

He felt hands on his face. Small hands stroking his face lightly. Something about the touch had him feeling the need to get away from it; slip away back into the blackness of unconsciousness until he heard it. Singing… someone was singing; a lullaby, he thought.

With extreme effort Nick managed to drag his eyes open. His head was killing him and he couldn't exactly remember where he was, but he remembered this feeling. He'd felt this way before. This was the same way he'd felt when he'd woke up before… he'd been drugged again and this time it had been by Jackie herself.

Nick tried to move, but he was still restrained. He was still in the same room and she was removing the gag from his mouth as she stroked his cheek. He knew it was futile, but he tried nonetheless to pull away from her touch. She was sitting on the bed next to him and Nick could cringe at her nearness.

"Now, now, Nicky. Don't be that way with me. I've missed you so much, you know." Jackie said, as she removed the gag and tossed it aside. She began humming as she reached past him to something on the nightstand.

Nick followed her movements and saw a basin of water and she was wringing out a washcloth. She brought the cloth to his face as she began washing him off; as she worked she was humming that lullaby. He remembered her doing this when…when…before. He'd hated that lullaby since that time and hearing it now and in her voice again, a voice he would never be able to completely forget, he just wanted to crawl back into the oblivion of darkness. He'd rather be dead than go through this again.

"Just go away and leave me alone. Don't touch me." Nick said trying very hard not to let her know just how much her closeness was making him sick to his stomach.

"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky." She smiled down at him. "I'm just cleaning you up a bit. Soon you and I are going to be very close once again and you need to look your best. Are you hungry?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We're almost there now, Jim… I know… you can kill us later. Archie has the coordinates and bring the EMTs." Catherine said into her cell phone as Reilly slowly pulled up about five hundred yards from the front of the cabin that Archie had led them to.

Reilly listened to the conversation. She couldn't hear Jim's responses, but she didn't need to. She knew he was angry with them and she could understand that.

She killed the engine and the headlights as they exited the car to head around to the back end. Reilly opened the back hatch and reached in for a vest. Catherine ended her call and grabbed her own vest as Sara and Greg stashed the computer equipment and each grabbed a vest.

"Jim is angry and bringing an army with him and Warrick. He won't be here for at least twenty minutes, but he's coming in hot, so we have to hurry, Reilly." Catherine said as she pulled her weapon from her side holster and checked her clip and released the safety.

"I know. I got the gist of your conversation." Reilly reached into the vehicle for her service weapon and strapped it to her left hip. "I'm going around back and I understand if any of you want to hang back out front here."

"Are you kidding? I'm not letting you go anywhere alone, in your condition; I don't care how good an agent you are." Catherine said fastening her vest in place.

"My condition? I'm pregnant; I'm not dying." Reilly said as she holstered her Glock and rested her left hand on top of it. "Look I know I'm taking a big chance here, but I am fully prepared to protect myself and my baby. I'm good at what I do and there are three of them and four of us. I can do this; trust me." She paused. "I'm not going to put myself in danger. I promise."

"What if there's gunfire or we have to run from them?" Sara asked holstering her weapon.

Reilly smiled. "I don't run unless there's a fire under my ass. I've never been the running type, but if that happens I'll just shoot whoever's trying to chase me." Reilly took note of their genuine concern. "I'm trained to shoot first and worry about running later. You're scientists; you're trained to shoot if you need to. You guys are just gong to have to trust me." She said as she reached into the vehicle for the other gun she had and tucked it into a pocket on the right side of her vest. "Are we ready?"

"Okay – we just want you to be careful." Greg said as he looked at her.

Reilly reached for a couple flashlights and quietly shut the back hatch. "I'll be careful. Besides, based on what I've been told by Nick and what I've seen from you all in the past, I think I've got the best possible back up there is." She smiled at each of them as she handed Sara one of the flashlights. "Me, Sara and Catherine will take the back. Greg you stay here and watch the front. You see anything out of the ordinary call Brass or Warrick. Let's be sure our phones are on vibrate; no noise. Smith's a mercenary, so he's good." Reilly handed Greg the keys to the car. "If Sara or Cath come running or you see me walking really fast, be ready to get us out of here fast.." Greg nodded at her as he took the keys. "Okay, let's do this."


	42. Chapter 42

08/30/2005 Same Day 9:30PM-10:00PM

Chapter Forty-Two

"Jackie? Me and Ally are going to head down to the lake to check on things. We'll be right back." John said quietly to his older sister, as Ally walked over to where he stood in the cabin's kitchen.

Jackie was back to sitting at the kitchen table after Nick had refused to let her feed him anything. That had made her angry so she had stormed out of the bedroom. She looked up now as her brother spoke to her.

"You're coming back, right?" She asked her eyes overly bright and not settling for too long on anything.

"Of course we are honey. We helped you get Nicky and we won't leave you alone now. Promise." Ally crooned to her sister. "We'll just be gone a few minutes."

"Alright, I'll wait for you to get back." She smiled up at them. "I'll just wait for you…" Her voice trailed off as she returned her gaze to the closed bedroom door where Nick was.

Ally looked at John who returned her look. _She's beginning to lose touch here, she thought. _"Jackie honey, did you take your pills with dinner that I set out for you?" Ally asked her, nervously chewing at her bottom lip.

"Hmmm?" The woman seemed to think about that for a few minutes. "I think so; the 2 white ones… unless I forgot…"

"Okay; well, we'll be right back and then I'll make sure you get them." Ally replied. She whispered to John, "Maybe we should give her some of the sedative you got for Nick. Let her sleep tonight and get her back on her meds in the morning."

"Yeah. Let's do the walk through and when we get back, I'll do it." John answered as the two walked out the back door of the cabin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly, Catherine and Sara moved quietly along the north side of the cabin towards the rear and arrived in time to see John and Ally exit the back of the cabin. They watched as the two walked down a path towards the lake swinging a flashlight in the waning light of the early evening.

"If they're gone, maybe that means Jackie's the only one left in the cabin with Nick." Catherine said. "What do you want to do now?" She asked Reilly.

"Do you think you two can follow them and keep an eye on them while I get Nick?" She asked.

"Yes; we can do that." Catherine looked at Sara who nodded in agreement. "Reilly, just remember to-" Catherine started.

"Be careful!" Reilly finished for her. "I will – I promise." She smiled at the two women.

"Good." Catherine smiled at her, as she moved to follow Sara down the path Ally and John had just taken.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jackie sat quietly drumming her fingers on the tabletop continuously when she suddenly stopped realizing what she was doing. She was having a moment of semi-clarity. She needed to go to Nick; she sensed he needed her.

She rose from the table and walked into the bedroom just as Reilly quietly opened the back door of the cabin and slipped into the kitchen. She was in time to see Jackie closing the bedroom behind her. Reilly looked around the cabin keeping her gun aimed out in front of her as she swept the room. Slowly she headed for the bedroom door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jackie saw that Nick was lying there with his eyes closed. She knew he wasn't sleeping and she began to get angry at him for refusing her, for hating her and for ignoring her presence now. She'd only loved Nick since the first time that she'd seen him and she now realized he hated her.

She walked over to stand over him. She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out the syringe John had given her. It was time for her Nicky to love only her.

She stood there debating what to say to him when his eyes suddenly flew open. That startled her and she wasn't expecting to see the intensely pure hatred in his eyes. She knew he hated her but she was still shocked as she met his gaze. She didn't realize what she doing until she heard her.

"Don't do that Jackie." The voice was low and quiet and… and so soothing.

Jackie realized she was holding the syringe above her head ready to stab Nick with it. "I know your voice." She said turning to look at the woman standing in the doorway. "I've heard you before. You have the voice of an angel; my angel." Jackie smiled at the woman. "You took care of me in the hospital."

Nick turned to see Reilly standing in the doorway. He saw the gun in her left hand hanging down at her side. Reilly looked at Nick, but didn't say anything to him. He let out a huge sigh as he realized Reilly had found him. He closed his eyes and thanked God.

"Jackie sweetie." Reilly crooned to the woman. She used her most soothing motherly voice and tried to convince the woman she was a friend. "I'm here to help you, Jackie."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brass couldn't seem to get his car to move any faster over the road in the fast fading daylight. He was still a good ten minutes out and he was worried as hell. Warrick sat next to him and he'd been trying to reach both Reilly and Catherine on their cells alternating between the two, but he wasn't getting either of them. They were still out of range.

"Still nothing Brass." Warrick said shaking his head as he met Brass' eyes. "We need to hurry."

"No shit. I can't make this car go any faster than I already am. We'll get there Warrick, we'll get there." Brass said as he looked in his rear view mirror at the parade of vehicles he was leading to wherever Reilly had went in search of Nick. Grissom was behind them riding shotgun with Detective Vega.

Brass turned his attention back to the stretch of road in front of him. "Damn it." He muttered under his breath as he pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor and mentally tried urging his cruiser forward on momentum alone.

AN: Don't forget those reviews - love em! Almost finished chapter 50 will be the last chapter so it's getting close!


	43. Chapter 43

08/30/2005 Same Day 10:00PM-10:30PM

Chapter Forty-Three

"Reilly?" Nick finally found his voice. "Get out of here!"

"Relax Nick; it's going to be okay." Reilly spoke softly to Nick, but she never took her eyes off the woman standing over Nick with the syringe in her hand poised for attack. "Everything's going to be okay, isn't it Jackie?"

"You're my angel; if you say everything's okay then yes, everything's going to be okay." She sounds so wistful and just a bit cartoonish.

Reilly couldn't help noticing how bright her eyes were and how she kept tilting her head at the sounds in the room. The woman was buckets of crazy; full blown Jack Nicholson in the Shining kind of crazy, she thought. She made a mental note to have Brad go after the doctors that thought it was perfectly fine to allow Jackie to walk out of that cuckoo's nest.

"Jackie, my name is Reilly. I'm not an angel, but I want to help you. To do that you got to let Nick go. He's not that little boy you… cared about anymore. He's a grown man now and you have to let him go." Reilly continued to speak softly to try and keep the tension down around the woman.

Jackie's eyes narrowed at Reilly's words. "I know he's not a little boy; I'm not stupid. I don't want a little boy; I want a man; I've always wanted a man. I want Nick so stop trying to confuse me."

Reilly realized right then that Jackie didn't see boys as boys; she saw them as the men they'd become. She believed she loved Nick no matter how old he had been or now was. _Oh boy, she's totally off her rocker. This is so not good here._

"Okay Jackie, relax." Reilly quietly and carefully holstered her gun so that she could use her hands to show the woman she meant no harm. At least not yet, she thought." I know you're not stupid and I would never try to confuse you. I just don't want to see anyone get hurt here. Not Nick. Not you. Not me. I just want you to put down the syringe and talk to me. Please." Reilly paused. The woman was listening. "Jackie remember when you said you knew my voice? Tell me about that."

Nick watched in awe as Reilly talked to this woman and she was listening to her. Jackie was actually listening to Reilly. Nick wanted to move, but he was afraid of doing anything that would distract Jackie away from Reilly.

"I remember your voice from the hospital. You said you were my Guardian Angel and that nothing bad would happen to me as long as I listened to you. I did everything you said, and they let me go. You helped me get out of the hospital; but once I got out you stopped talking to me. I thought you'd left me, but now you're here."

"That's right; I'm here now. And I'm here to help you again. Help you with Nick. You just need to listen to me again and I can get you and Nick out of here and someplace safe. Safe with John and Ally; your family."

"You know where John and Ally are? They left me; they said they'd be right back, but they're not coming back. Why would they leave me?" The woman looked at Reilly with tears in her eyes.

Reilly felt her phone vibrate. Damn. Either one of the guys has problems or it's Brass; either way there was trouble coming and she was running out of time. She had to move this along.

"Jackie we have to go now. John and Ally are right outside and you need to cut Nick loose and get outside too or they're going to leave us."

"They are? But why-" Suddenly Jackie's face clouded over and her eyes darkened. "You're lying to me. John and Ally already left me; I heard them talking earlier. They switched Nick's medicine. They want me to kill him so I can go back to that awful place." The woman raised her weapon higher and started to bring it down and into Nick. "I won't go back! And if I can't be with Nick, then he dies now!" And with that she brought the syringe down.

"No!" Nick yelled as he tried desperately to move away from the needle, but knew it was futile. That's when he saw from the corner of his eye Reilly pull her weapon and fire three shots in quick succession hitting the woman dead center of her chest. He saw the look of total shock and surprise on her face as she fell onto him where he lay on the bed. He scrunched his eyes closed to avoid looking at the woman's dead eyes.

"Nick?!" Reilly yelled as she rushed over to pull the dead woman off of him. She checked him over for the syringe, but didn't find it. She finally found it on the floor where it had fallen free of Jackie's hand as she fell. "Nick!" Reilly yelled again.

"Am I dead?" Nick asked, slowly opening his eyes.

"Not yet; not by a long shot." She reached down and kissed the man. "Let's get out of here before John and Ally do come back." She rummaged in the dead woman's pants for the handcuff keys.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Catherine and Sara had followed the two people for what seemed like forever, before they finally stopped and seemed to just be standing there looking out at the lake in the glow of their flashlight. Catherine knew they were talking, but she couldn't make anything out. She looked at Sara who shook her head. She couldn't make anything out either.

That's when they decided to move in closer in hopes of hearing their conversation. They could just barely make out their features in the fading light, but they could see the two embracing and then the two were kissing. Catherine felt Sara's reaction as the two stood so close together. This whole family was messed up beyond messed up, Catherine thought.

And that's when all of them heard the shots from the cabin. Catherine and Sara moved deeper in the bushes as John and Ally broke their embrace and took off running for the cabin. Sara grabbed Catherine's arm and the two took off after them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly had Nick up and was trying to support him as best she could considering he was still a little woozy from all the drugs in his system, but he was upright and that's the best she could hope for right now. He was weak, but he gripped her waist with his left arm and placed his right hand over her tummy under her vest.

Reilly's cell kept buzzing on her right hip, but she ignored it. She knew she didn't have time to stop and answer it. "Come on, Nick, we have to go now!" She urged Nick when he hesitated at the vibration of her phone.

She managed to get him out of the bedroom and halfway across the living room towards the front door of the cabin when John Smith barreled into the back of the cabin with Ally right behind him.

"Stop!" He yelled as he pointed his gun at them.


	44. Chapter 44

08/30/2005 Same Day Same Time

Chapter Forty-Four

Catherine and Sara heard Smith yell at Nick and Reilly just as they got to the back door of the cabin. Sara knew they couldn't take the chance of going in right behind them. They had to go in low and slow. They both thought they could hear the faint sounds of sirens in the distance.

Catherine could feel her cell phone vibrating in her jeans pocket, but she didn't need to answer it to know it was either Greg or Brass." Sara, go around and get Greg and you two take the front. We've got to stall until Brass gets here."

"Okay." She said as she took off around the side of the cabin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ally rushed up behind her brother grabbing the back of his shirt for support when he came to an abrupt stop inside the open kitchen facing the living room and Nick with Reilly.

"Stop!" John yelled m as he pointed his gun at them.

Reilly slowly turned around in time with Nick. Nick slowly removed his arms from around Reilly to gently but firmly push her behind him. He successfully put himself between John's gun and Reilly. From Reilly's position behind Nick, John and Ally couldn't see that Reilly was still armed with her service weapon and her spare which she was carefully pulling from her vest pocket and slipping into Nick's right hand behind his back.

Now that Nick was in front of her, Reilly wasn't liking that at all. She knew he was trying to protect her and the baby, but she was torn between wanting to protect him and herself because of the baby, too. "Nick." She said softly.

"Please shut up, Reilly." Nick said flatly. Reilly had never heard Nick sound so cold, and while she didn't like it, she knew better than to say anything. So she shut up and clung to his left arm.

"I can't let you leave." Smith said, cocking his gun.

Reilly saw Ally standing behind John much the same way she was standing behind Nick. She could see the woman was scared, but John wasn't. He sounded harder than nick had. This man was a killer; a trained killer and he didn't feel anything when that came into play. He couldn't be reasoned with; he couldn't be persuaded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Catherine took a deep breath and slowly entered the cabin through the back door to come up behind John and Ally. She quietly took in what was happening in front of her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Greg and Sara slowly crept up the front port steps staying low as they moved one on each side of the front door. They quietly listened to the muffled voices coming from inside the cabin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brass swung the car down the dirt road at eighty miles an hour. He switched off the siren as they came up on Reilly's Tahoe, and the parade of cars came to a stop. Both Brass and Warrick jumped out of the car with their guns drawn as they followed the road up to the cabin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

In her peripheral vision, Reilly could see Catherine coming in low through the back door. Reilly carefully moved against Nick's back to try and see if he had spotted Catherine. She felt his head against her face has he barely nodded letting her know he had.

Catherine met Reilly's eyes as she crept closer to John and Ally. She could see that not only did John have a gun, but so did Ally. She was hiding behind John much the same way Reilly was hiding behind Nick.

Suddenly there was shouting and noise coming from outside the front door of the cabin. John swung his gun between Nick and Reilly and the front door. "This is all your fault. If you had never came into Jackie's life, she wouldn't have turned out like she has and we wouldn't be here now!"

"She was the one who came into my life? I was nine years old! I didn't ask for any of it!" Nick snapped back as he tried to concentrate on John right now. The cavalry was coming, but he knew they wouldn't be in time to stop John.

Nick knew this needed to end now; all of it needed to end. He couldn't take anymore stuff taking him down. He'd had enough trauma to last a life time and he needed to end this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This is the Police! Come out with your hands in the air!" Vega boomed over his police radio's PA system at the cabin and it's occupants. Brass and Warrick were on the porch with Greg and Sara. About a dozen officers were running to surround the cabin.

"Get my people out of there, Brass!" Grissom yelled from his place beside Vega.

"Warrick get these two out of here now!" Brass hissed at the man. "You guys shouldn't even be here! I am so going to kill Reilly for bringing you out here!"

"We came to help her and to find Nick!" Greg shouted at the man. No way was he going to let Brass blame Reilly. She hadn't wanted them to come, but they'd been needed and they knew the risks.

Warrick grabbed the two CSIs and pushed them down the steps and back towards the squad cars before going back to cover Brass.

"Catherine is around back and Reilly's inside with Nick." Sara had been able to tell Brass before Warrick had pushed them away.

Brass reached up and pounded on the door once Warrick was back in place. "Police, Smith! Open up!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly could hear Brass outside the door; she could see John's gun aimed at her and Nick and she could feel reality slipping through her fingers as the scene in front of her played out in her mind's eye. _Everything was wrong, she thought. This isn't right. Nick, this is all wrong!_

From that moment forward Reilly felt as if everything was happening in slow motion, like when you slow down the movie in the DVD player. She took it all in like she was watching that slowed down movie.

John yelled something at Nick and brought his gun's aim back from the door back to Nick. Nick pulled his right hand with Reilly's spare gun gripped tight out from behind his back and took a step forward as he fired at John before the man could take his shot at Nick. John yelled out as he went down; and he went down hard.

Catherine lurched forward from her position on the floor by the back of the cabin. Ally brought her gun up to shoot Reilly as John went down and Nick was a step away from her. Nick saw the movement and he took that step back and in front of Reilly to protect her just as Ally pulled the trigger. Warrick and Brass crashed in the front door of the cabin just as the first shot hand rang out, and Catherine yelled at Ally who turned to face her as she brought her gun around to fire at her. Catherine fired two shots hitting Ally with both and she watched as she went down.

And through all this, all Reilly saw was Nick as he started to fall backwards against her.


	45. Chapter 45

08/30/2005 Same Day Same Time

Chapter Forty-Five

Brass and Warrick both came up behind Reilly at the same moment Ally had fired and that was enough to keep Reilly standing when Nick slammed back into her from the force of the bullet striking him. Her arms automatically went out and around him to hold onto him as both her and Warrick were thrown backwards from Nick's weight. The both of them were falling with Nick as Warrick tried desperately to protect Reilly from any injury caused by the impact of Nick's body.

"Nick!" Reilly screamed as all three of them sank to the floor.

Warrick had managed to twist Reilly to the side of Nick enough so that when they fell Nick's weight was all on her legs.

Reilly was abnormally aware of the smell of gunpowder that hung in the air of the small room. _Oh God! Nick! Nick was shot!_ All she could think of was the fact that Nick was down and she hadn't really saved him; he had saved her.

She grabbed a hold of him and tried to keep him in her arms, on her lap; anything to hold onto him, but Brass was pulling him off her and laying Nick flat on the floor. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the red stain that was rapidly growing near the center of Nick's chest.

"Nick!" She yelled again as she watched that stain spread across the front of the light colored shirt he was wearing.

Brass whipped off his jacket and folded it a couple times then placed it over the wound in Nick's chest and then he grabbed Reilly's hands to have her push down on it over the wound. As she did that, Nick let out a painful grunt.

"Get the EMTs in here now!" Brass yelled into his radio. "Vega! Call for the medevac – we need that chopper!" He was thankful that they'd called and had the chopper on standby before they'd headed out to find Reilly and the others.

Reilly felt hot all over and weighted down. Things were moving too slowly; she felt like she was trudging through water here; she was trying to move quickly, but was being held back by the weight of the water. She pushed down on the fabric of Jim's jacket while Nick was looking up at her. She could see he was trying to ground her; help her to remain calm.

She looked around and saw both John and Alley were down. Good, she thought; I'm glad they're dead. She didn't feel bad for feeling that way either. Those two had taken Nick from her and now here they were; Nick shot and herself terrified of the outcome to all of this.

She scanned the room quickly looking for Catherine, but she couldn't find her anywhere. She started to worry, was she hurt too? Then suddenly Catherine's there by Reilly's side.

Finally things; details are starting to penetrate her brain. She heard the sound of pounding feet; running; the chaos was beginning to take over the scene. Reilly could feel Catherine helping her to hold pressure to Nick's chest, her hands covering Reilly's to keep constant pressure.

Reilly could hear Brass yelling; he was doing a lot of yelling. She could see Warrick gripping Nick's shoulders as people were rushing into the cabin. But most of all she could see Nick as he locked eyes with her. He was trying to touch her; his right hand fumbling around until he locked onto her left wrist.

She could hear someone crying; she tried to tune them out, but she couldn't. The sobs were echoing in her head; the noise was the worst of all the sounds in the room. _Will someone stop that crying! Please! _She wanted to scream those words out loud, but she couldn't break eye contact with Nick.

Then she could see something drip and land onto Catherine's hands that covered her own and that's when she realized; it was her. She was the one crying; it was her tears falling on Nick's shirt, her sounds of sobbing that Reilly could hear… and yet knowing this didn't stop her as the tears just kept falling. She tried to stop, really she did, but she just couldn't. And worst, Nick could see she's the one crying. He slowly let go of her wrist to reach up and touch her face.

Reilly can see the pain in his eyes, his deep brown eyes as he wiped the tears from her face. That's it, she thought. I lost it the minute I looked into this man's eyes. Forget his southern upbringing, his good looks or even his charm. No, Nick Stokes had had her the moment he had focused those damned impossible emotion filled eyes on her.

Nick's hand dropped from her face to grip at her vest; she could feel the panic in his hand. She could feel him trying to pull at her vest and suddenly she knew what he was trying to do. She needed to get the vest off; he needed to touch her before his panic increased.

She pulled her hands out from under Catherine's and clumsily tore at the straps of the vest. "Help me! I need to get this off now!" She yelled for somebody to help her.

Warrick got what Reilly was trying to do for Nick and he quickly slid over to grab at the Velcro straps and helped her get the vest off. Finally it was off and Reilly grabbed Nick's hand and moved it to cover her stomach; then she returned her hands to continue applying pressure to his chest.

Reilly could feel the baby moving and knew that Nick could too now, because his panic was instantly averted. He had needed to touch her, to feel their child and know that they were both safe. Warrick covered Nick's hand with his own to keep it in place; to keep Nick calm.

Nick suddenly started gasping with each breath he tried to take and Reilly could feel his warm blood seeping through the material of Brass' jacket as it started running through her and Catherine's fingers. Both of her hands as well as Catherine's were covered in Nick's blood. He was bleeding too much too fast. He was dying and Reilly could feel that he was being taken from her.

"No! Damnit God, no!" She yelled at no one as fresh tears began to fall onto Nick again. "Nick… hang on… Please!"

She knew she sounded like a blithering idiot; crying and screaming, but she couldn't help it. Everything she has ever known, everything she has ever done to save the people she has searched for has never felt like this. This was the worst feeling of helplessness she had ever experienced. She was losing Nick and she was coming unhinged.

She pressed down harder on Nick's wound trying to stop the blood that kept flowing through her fingers. She winced when Nick jerked under the pressure. "I'm sorry Nick. Oh God, I'm so sorry." Now she knew just how useless Nick had felt every time he'd said those same words to her. "Please Nick… stay with me." She cried.

Nic was trying to say something, but she couldn't make it out. He was not getting enough air in to speak. Reilly watched as a thin stream of foamy blood started to ooze out the corner of his mouth; his mouth still moving, still trying to form words; but no sound coming out. Reilly bent down closer to his Nick's mouth.

She wasn't sure if Nick was actually able to speak the words or if she just instinctively knew what he was trying to say, but she pulled back from him and said, "I love you too Nick. But you better listen to me and listen good, science guy. You cannot leave me! Don't you fucking dare leave me!" She sniffed as she kept her eyes locked with his. "I need you, Mr. Texas – so you gotta man up here, because _we _need you! Twins Nick; two babies, one girl and one boy. So I need you to stay with me 'cause I cannot do this alone!"

Reilly thought she saw a ghost of a smile on Nick's lips as she felt his touch on her stomach weakening. She watched as Nick slowly closed his eyes; he was slipping away from her. She bent down again and this time she whispered something to Nick meant only for him to hear.

Something inside Nick felt Reilly's words and his eyes opened slightly as he smiled and mouthed the word 'yes.' Then his eyes dropped closed again as the EMTs moved in to start working on him. Warrick gathered Reilly up and backed her away so the medics could lift Nick off the floor and put him on the gurney to rush out the cabin's front door.

AN: Don't forget those reviews. I live for them! And only 4 or 5 more chapters left. Promise to get it completed by Monday. Have a great weekend.


	46. Chapter 46

08/31/2005 Early Wednesday Morning 12:30 AM-2:30AM

Chapter Forty-Six

Reilly found herself sitting in the hospital's surgical waiting room where she'd been sitting for the last two hours. She had ridden with Nick on the Medevac chopper that had brought him to Desert Palms after the EMTs had worked on stabilizing him in the ambulance. Reilly was sitting between Warrick and Grissom and she was staring at her blood-stained hands. Blood; Nick's blood. It was everywhere; on her hands, her shirt, her jeans. It was even all over her boots. She had lost her vest; she remembered taking it off for Nick, but she didn't remember what happened to it after that.

Nick was in surgery. When the helicopter had first arrived at the hospital there had been a flurry of activity as the doctors and nurses met them on the pad with another gurney and Reilly had hung onto it as they rushed Nick inside and straight for surgery. She had refused to let go of him and Warrick had physically pulled her off the gurney so they could get him into surgery. The staff tried to get her to let a doctor look her over, but she fought them until Sam had arrived, rushing into the trauma room and she had gotten Reilly to calm down for a quick cursory exam.

Reilly knew she was fine physically, her vest and Warrick had protected her from Nick's weight when he'd taken the bullet meant for her. She was fine, her babies were fine and all she wanted was Nick. They wanted her to stay in the trauma room, to be sure she was okay, but finally they had relented and let her go to the surgical ward since she'd still be in the hospital if anything were to happen.

And that's where she was now, sitting in a private waiting room since she, Catherine, Brass and Warrick all had Nick's blood on them in some way. They had all tried so hard to stop the bleeding, but had it been enough? She didn't know; she just prayed it was.

Catherine was somewhere close by, she could sense her, but Reilly didn't raise her head to see who all was actually around her in the room. She was not really aware of too much right then, all she could do was think about if she lost Nick.

Nick had not regained consciousness on the way in and he was still in surgery, so Reilly had no way of knowing what was going on with him. She just sat staring at her hands. Everyone kept asking her if she was alright, but she wasn't responding to anyone. She knew they were all worried about her and she knew they'd keep asking her; she just kept tuning them out. She didn't want to talk to anyone; she wanted to hole up somewhere, but she couldn't do that without Nick. She needed Nick so she would wait for him.

Slowly she got up and walked out of the room with Sam rushing after her. Reilly was on auto pilot as she searched for a bathroom. Sam tried to follow her mother into the small room, but Reilly turned to look at her like Sam was the one who had lost her marbles.

"Sam, I'm fine. I'm pregnant and I have to pee. That happens a lot for pregnant women." She paused as she looked at her daughter. "I'm not going to fall down; I just need to wash my hands. Go back and wait with the others. I promise I'll be fine." Reilly looked down again at her hands. "I just need a few minutes without anyone asking me if I'm alright. All the worry, the looks, the concern; it's going to drive me off the deep end." Sam reached out a hand to touch her mother's face.

She slowly nodded. "Alright, I know how you hate attention, but just remember they only care."

Reilly smiled and turned back towards the bathroom. "I'll be back soon, I promise." She said as she closed the door behind her and locked it.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror over the sink for a minute, then she turned on the water and began scrubbing her hands the best she could. After drying her hands she reached in the pocket of her slacks and pulled out her cell phone. She took a deep breath and ran through her contacts list for the number she needed.

She hesitated as she thought about this, but she knew it needed to be done; and she knew she had to be the one to do it. One mother to another; she had to do it. She pushed the dial button and waited for the person on the other end to pick up. It was late, but Reilly knew she'd answer. She always did.

"Hello?" Came Jillian Stokes' voice over the line.

"Jillian? It's Reilly. I… it's…" Reilly couldn't finish; she was suddenly terrified to put it into words and she started choking up again.

"Reilly? Honey, are you okay?" When she didn't get an answer, she continued, "Reilly? Is it Nick? Or the baby? Do you need us to come? Please tell me something, hon."

That did it. The sentiments reached into Reilly's heart and she let the tears come again. "Yes… it's Nick… he was shot and he's in surgery… I… it's bad mom…"

"Okay Reilly, listen to me, Bill and I are on the first plane out, don't go anywhere or do anything else. We'll call Warrick and take care of everything. You just stay there with Nick." Jillian paused and Reilly could hear her talking to someone near her, and then she was back on the line. "Reilly, honey, we'll be there as soon as we can. You just take care of yourself and our grandbaby. Please." She continued for a few more minutes to try and calm Reilly as her husband moved to another phone to begin making arrangements for their flight out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick had been in surgery for three hours now and Reilly has noticed that Grissom was no longer sitting next to her. It'd been awhile since she came back from the bathroom and reclaimed her seat between the two men; she was determined to just sit there and wait; wait for news on Nick.

Reilly felt Sam slide into Grissom's empty seat and she was pressing a cup into Reilly's hands. She looked at it; water she thought. She watched as her hands start to tremble as she tried to grasp the cup, but watched instead as it fell to the floor. She didn't move when some of the water splashed up onto her. Warrick rushed off for something to clean it up with while Sam tried talking to her. Reilly can hear Sam, but she just can't answer; she's lost. She's afraid and she's so scared. She lets Sam pull her into a hug and hold her, but she just can't think anymore.

Reilly heard Warrick answer his cell phone and Sam bent down to finish cleaning the floor. After watching Sam finish cleaning, Reilly could hear Warrick finish his call. She looked at him as he squatted down in front of her.

"Nick's folks are on their way and his mom has a message for you." Warrick said taking Reilly's hands in his. "She said to tell you – faith. I don't know what she means other than for you to keep the faith."

Reilly felt fresh tears stinging behind her eyes. "Maybe, but most likely she's letting me know that was the name Nick chose for a girl. He'd joked with his mom the other day when we found out it was a girl and he challenged her to guess his choice." She explained as the tears fell quietly.

"Okay, then Faith it is." Warrick said as he returned to sit next to Reilly still holding one of her hands in his. "Faith it is."


	47. Chapter 47

08/31/2005 Early Wednesday Morning 2:30AM-4:30AM

Chapter Forty-Seven

Nick has been in surgery for four hours now and Reilly has noticed that the floor beneath her feet is dry and Sam has moved to sit on the floor with her head in Reilly's lap while Greg has moved into the Grissom-Sam chair. Someone new has come into the room, a woman, and she bends down by Sam to try and get Reilly to talk to her; to see how she is doing.

Reilly thought it was a nurse maybe, or another doctor. It didn't really matter anymore. If they weren't there to tell her something about Nick she wasn't really paying much attention to who came and went. Warrick is still holding her hand and Reilly is using her other to stroke Sam's hair. She knows that the nurse/doctor person is just doing her job, but she isn't listening. They all probably want her to rest because of the baby. The baby, babies she thought. She should take care of her babies.

"Ms. Mallone, is there anything we can get you; maybe a place to lie down and rest?" The nurse/doctor asks.

Reilly looked at the woman, a nurse, and she could see it in her eyes. She's a good nurse, a good person; she has caring thoughtful eyes. You can tell anything you need just by looking at a person's eyes. They can't keep their soul from touching their eyes.

"I'm fine. Can I just lie down in here on the couch? I need to be here when the doctor comes in about Nick." She said as she looked at the nurse.

"Of course you can, but we could make you more comfortable in a room and I'll be sure the doctor finds you first when he comes out of surgery." She replied keeping her tone friendly but neutral.

"No; I have to be here." Reilly said abruptly. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not leaving until I know how Nick is." She slowly stood up and Sam moved to jump to her feet and help her mother as she moved over to the empty couch.

"I'll go get you a pillow and a blanket. Just let me know if you have any discomfort at all." The nurse said as she smiled at Reilly who nodded before she left the room.

Reilly watched as Brass came into the room and as he came over to crouch down on his haunches before reaching for her hand. He didn't say anything, not at first; he just wanted her to know he was there.

"Nicky's a strong man and he's going to be fine, Reilly. You know that; so keep that thought in your head. Don't think any other way, okay?" He finally said softly.

"Sure Jim." She answered in an equally soft tone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick has been in surgery for five hours now and Reilly is exhausted beyond exhausted. She feels as if she has never felt this tired in her entire life. She is lying on the only couch in the waiting room with no real thought of what she is supposed to be doing other than just waiting for news of Nick. She must have fallen asleep, because Brass is now gone and Sam is back to sitting on the floor near her.

"Where's Brass?" She asked as she slowly sat up and looked around the room.

Everyone is looking at her; surprised she had spoken. She hasn't spoken much in the last few hours and now she is, so she has their immediate attention.

"He stepped out for a minute, he'll be back. Do you want anything, Reilly?" Catherine asked as she looked at Reilly reaching out to pat one of her hands.

Reilly looked down at her hands as Catherine touched her. She looked up at Catherine and slowly shook her had. All she wanted was to hear Nick was fine. "No. Just… just… Nick…" She begins. "I just want to know Nick is doing okay."

She knew everyone else in the room could hear her and they were quiet as they echoed her feelings. She knew they care about Nick and her just as much as her family and his did, but she's just too tired to care what else is going on so she just lies back down on the couch. The nurse from before has came back into the room and Sam has gotten up to talk with her. Reilly can see them watching her as they talk, but she doesn't really care what they have to say about her because Reilly knows the only thing she really needs is Nick.

She heard Sam say something about getting some rest for the baby, but she isn't really comprehending how to let them know she knows what they want from her. Nick is dying and she just wants to crawl into herself and drift away from all of this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick has been in surgery for six hours now and Reilly can hear Warrick come over to where she is laying on the couch. He crouches down and takes one of Reilly's hands in his just has he had done earlier.

"Reilly? I need you to listen to me." He said. "Nick's parents took a special flight and will be here soon. I need to go and be there to pick them up. I need you to hang in there while I'm gone and know that I'll be back soon."

Reilly slowly met Warrick's eyes and she can see such tenderness in their green depths. His eyes are his best feature as far as Reilly's concerned. Just as Nick's eyes are his. Whoever said that the eyes were the windows to the soul got it right. Yep, Warrick had the eyes that brought the ladies to their knees. Tina didn't know just how lucky she really was.

She smiled and leaned over and gently kissed his forehead as she squeezed his hand. "Okay. Be careful out there."

Everyone is on the edge of their seats as they see her responding to Warrick. She sat up and looked around the waiting room. They were all there; Warrick, Sam, Grissom, Brass, Catherine, Sara, Greg and even Hodges and Archie are there as well.

"I know you guys think I've lost it, but I haven't. I'm not crazy or depressed or… whatever. I'm just tuning you all out." She paused for a moment. "It's my defense mechanism, when things get… to be too much, I just tune things out."

"Yeah, she does." Sam added quietly.

Reilly smiled at her daughter. "I just want to think about Nick right now; so stop freaking out every time I open my mouth and stop looking at me like I'm on the brink of disaster. I'm not going to jump off a bridge or go bonkers; I just want to concentrate on Nick."

"We're all just worried about you Reilly; that's all." Catherine said as she moved to sit down next to Reilly. "But the jury's still out on the crazy part." She added smiling.

"Why?" Reilly asked. She knew Catherine was teasing, but she wanted to hear what she meant.

"Because what totally sane person uses breath spray to intimidate a suspect?" She asked laughing.

"Yeah, and what totally sane person can take out another suspect from two hundred yards away with one shot while pregnant?" Sara added.

"Oh, and what sane person can talk everyone she knows into following her into the dark to a remote cabin in the woods to rescue her prince charming?" Greg put in.

"Oh, I could tell you some stories; like this one time-" Sam started to jump in with her own tales.

"Alright, alright. You made your point; I am crazy." Reilly agreed laughing with them.

"But it's a good kind of crazy." Warrick said as he stood up. "Love to stay and hear more, but gotta go. Sam, hold the stories till later when I get back, 'cause I definitely want to hear them!" He remarked.

"Hey, I'll ride with you Rick." Greg said as he joined Warrick and the two left the room.

"Mom, how are you doing? Really?" Sam asked worry etched in her features.

"I'm fine; yes, I'm tired, but I'll be fine. And I'd tell you if anything was wrong with the baby…" She paused as she touched her stomach. "Babies… I just found out before all this went down that I'm having twins. I didn't have time to really tell anyone before, because I wanted to tell Nick first."

"Mom! You're having twins?" Sam practically squealed. "I'm gonna have two sisters?"

Reilly laughed at Sam's excitement. "No; one sister and one brother. I had another sonogram at my doctor's appointment yesterday… the day before yesterday…? I'm not sure what day it is anymore." She smiled as everyone began talking at once. "I'm fine guys; we're fine." She said still patting her tummy.


	48. Chapter 48

08/31/2005 Early Wednesday Morning 5:00AM-8:00AM

Chapter Forty-Eight

Nick has been in surgery for six and a half hours now and Reilly has taken a call from Bill Stokes. His and Jillian's flight has been delayed so Reilly passed that information along to Warrick and Greg who are waiting at the airport to pick them up.

Bill had then asked to speak to Grissom, so Reilly handed Gil her phone. She knew they were talking about her and she heard Grissom tell the Stokes' everything that has happened so far. He made no attempt to hide his conversation from Reilly or how worried everyone has been for both Reilly and Nick. Reilly frowned at him after hearing this, but she decided to let it go for now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick has been in surgery for seven and a half hours now and Reilly has finally become cranky. She has become so irritable and angry at all the waiting that not even Sam can calm her down anymore and she almost storms the surgical room to demand to know how Nick was.

Warrick and Greg are waiting at the airport for Nick's parents to arrive and Brass has had to leave to go give an official statement to Ecklie on the past events. Vega had call Brass to tell him about finding Jason Hendler and his secretary dead in his office.

Grissom has also gone back to the lab to make sure dayshift doesn't mess up anything. Even with all three suspects now deceased, he doesn't want any surprises coming their way after what has happened.

Hillary has come by a couple times in the last hour and has spoken with Reilly. She is staying close to the hospital since Kevin is still an inpatient and scheduled for his surgery soon.

Hodges and Wendy have both gone home, but will be back. Archie has gone out to pick up some food for everyone and Reilly suspects he will be reporting back to their boss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

At almost eight hours after Nick's arrival at the hospital and going into surgery, a man wearing blue scrubs under a white lab coat came into the waiting room which now only contained Catherine, Sara, Greg, Sam and Reilly. The man focused on Reilly and headed straight for her.

"Ms. Mallone? I'm Dr. Gates. I'm the surgeon who operated on Mr. Stokes." He said by way of introduction as he sat down on the couch next to her.

"How is he? How's Nick?" She asked anxiously eyeing the doctor.

Instead of answering her, the doctor asked, "Has Mr. Stokes' family arrived yet?"

"They're on their way, but you can tell me, please." She begged. "I'm listed as Nick's power of attorney. I'm his next of kin… sort of." She was rushing through her words in a hurry to establish her relationship to Nick as his… what? Girlfriend? Fiancé?

"She is Nick's girlfriend. They're having twins." Sam stammered thinking that should be all the doctor needed to hear to know that her mom needed to know about Nick.

"It's alright." The doctor said offering a small smile. "I know who you are; I just didn't want to go through this more than once." He was tired; and he knew he'd still be here for awhile caring for his patient.

Reilly looked at him closely; the man was tired; bone weary tired. He'd been working on Nick at least eight hours now, she thought. "I'm sorry, doctor. I'm just… I need to know how he's doing."

"Nick is holding his own right now."

_Holding his own? What did that mean? _Reilly looked up into the doctor's blue eyes. He had nice sensitive blue eyes; like the nurse. Eyes were important to Reilly. They told you everything you needed to know if you just looked deep and this doctor had kind caring intense eyes.

"What does that mean?" She asked fearing the worst.

"Nick was shot at close range in the chest. You do understand what that means don't you?"

"Yes; I know. His chances aren't good." Reilly looked over at Catherine who had moved to quietly sit down on the other side of Reilly. "I was there when he was shot. He was protecting me and our…" She started to say baby, but it was babies. She put her hands on her stomach and left the sentence unfinished.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know that." The doctor paused as he looked up towards Sam. "Perhaps you could go get the nurse and tell her that I may need her in a bit."

Reilly looked up at him as Sam left the room. "I'm not going to pass out or anything. I'm fine." She was really getting tired of telling people she was fine. When would it sink in?

"Maybe, but you are pregnant and we need to be sure we don't upset the baby either." He paused taking another deep breath. "I'm not going to gloss over this; it's very serious. Nick was shot in the upper left quadrant of his chest barely missing his heart; the bullet did cause severe damage to his left lung. We have repaired that damage, but the surgery itself was time consuming as we had to be very careful working so closely to his heart. The time he was in surgery also added to the stress on Nick's already damaged body. He had three cardiac events during the surgery, and his heart has become strained from that adding to the damage and stress. We were able to bring him back each time, but each instance has put an incredible burden on his body."

"His heart stopped three times?" Catherine was shocked at that news.

"Yes. As I said, we brought him back, but with the damage those events caused and the amount of blood loss Mr. Stokes' suffered before arriving here; well, we're looking at a long road to recovery here. The next seventy-two hours are his most critical; during that time we have the possibility of infection setting in. He has to be monitored continuously during the next few days; so we can quickly catch any signs of distress at the onset. We're moving him to ICU soon and hopefully we'll know more over the next day or two."

Reilly looked at the doctor as she suddenly felt a buzzing in her ears. She could see everything in the room starting to spin. She felt like she was on the Tilt-A-Whirl at the carnival. She tried to focus on the doctor, but she could feel her stomach churning and the babies were moving; furiously. She felt like she was going to slip off the couch and land in a puddle at the doctor's feet.

The doctor was quick to see what was happening to Reilly and he quickly grabbed the back of her neck and brought her head straight back to rest against the top cushion of the couch. "Close your eyes." He commanded. "Take slow deep breaths; in through you nose, out through your mouth. Slow down your breathing Ms. Mallone."

"Reilly…" She started to say her name was Reilly, but she could feel the bile in the back of her throat. She swallowed several times until she got it under control. "My name is Reilly, please." She finally got out between breathing and swallowing. She closed her eyes and waited for the buzzing in her ears to die down so she could think again.

"Okay Reilly." He said, then he whispered something to someone and Reilly opened her eyes to see what was happening. "Reilly, I'd like to give you a very mild sedative to help your breathing and nausea. It won't affect the baby; and I want you to eat something."

Reilly looked up at the nurse who came over with a syringe in hand. She smiled warmly at Reilly as she stood back waiting to be allowed closer. Reilly slowly nodded and then the doctor nodded to the nurse who reached out and rubbed a spot on Reilly's upper right arm with an alcohol wipe then expertly inject the drug into her system.

Reilly could feel the effects almost immediately and it kind of felt like it did when you've had two good drinks and your fingers and toes start to tingle. The buzzing in her head stopped and her stomach settled down. She had to admit she felt better without feeling too drugged.

"Reilly you need to concentrate on the positive here. Nick hung on until he got here to the hospital. He made it through eight hours of surgery. We've repaired the initial damage. If we can keep him stable with no signs of fever or infection within the next seventy-two hours, his chances of a full recovery are very good."

Reilly nodded. "Can I see him?"

"He's in a medically induced coma state right now to keep him stable, so he won't know you're there, but yes. Once he's settled in the ICU unit I'll have someone take you to see him. You can only see him for a few minutes on the hour, but I would like for you to think about getting some sleep after that. If you don't want to go home, I can have an empty room set up for you right down the hall from Nick and you can see him every hour."

"You can do that?" Catherine asked surprised.

"It's amazing what we can do when the governor himself calls and tells us to give Reilly Mallone whatever she needs." The doctor smiled at Catherine. "I don't know who Reilly is to him, but she must have some very influential friends in some pretty high places."

"Who told the governor?" Catherine asked looking between Reilly and the doctor.

"My guess? Someone who has him on speed dial. Someone the governor would want to keep as a friend and not as an enemy." He replied. "I'll go check on that room and on Nick." He added to Reilly as he got up.

Reilly looked at him and nodded, smiling weakly. She knew who had called the governor. Her smile deepened as she realized that he was also late bringing back the food too.


	49. Chapter 49

08/31/2005 Wednesday 8:00AM-8:00PM

Chapter Forty-Nine

After the doctor left it wasn't much longer before the same nurse came to get Reilly and take her to see Nick. Being so critical and a member of law enforcement meant that Nick had priority and he had been moved quickly and set up in the ICU during Reilly's conversation with Doctor Gates.

Everyone followed Reilly, but stayed back as the nurse led her into Nick's room quietly keeping an arm carefully within Reilly's reach as they entered the room. Reilly stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Nick lying in the hospital bed. It took all of her strength just to take in Nick's appearance.

He looked small in the large bed with the many tubes and wires attached to him and the machines surrounding him. There were at least two IV poles showing that Nick was getting a blood transfusion in one and meds in the other. There was also a tube down Nick's throat to help him breath and keep his airway clear. He was pale; paler than the sheet covering him to his waist and Reilly could see the large white square bandage that covered the wound in his chest.

Sam had snuck into the room and she came up behind her mother just in case she was needed. Reilly walked over to Nick's side and gently brushed her fingers across his cheek. She could hear the steady whoosh whoosh sounds of the ventilator as it worked to help Nick breath. She could hear the beep beep of the heart monitor as it monitored his heartbeat. She bent down and softly placed a kiss on that cheek.

She quietly whispered in Nick's ear. "Don't you dare leave me alone Nick Stokes. You promised you'd be here for me. You promised." She reached up and wiped a tear from her face so it didn't fall onto him. "I love you Mr. Texas, you pain in my ass CSI."

Sam felt her throat closing up and the tears welling up in her eyes as she watched her mother. She had never seen her mother this way. Her father had never made her mother elicit this kind of feeling for him; this kind of love. She prayed that God would not let Nick die, because of the love that Sam could see the two had for each other. Her mother deserved some happiness for a change.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly woke disoriented. She slowly took in her surroundings and realized she was still at the hospital. At first she panicked thinking about her babies. But then she remembered Nick. She shot upright in the bed and looked around the room she was in. She could see Sam asleep on a couch in the room while Jillian and Bill Stokes appeared to be dozing in two armchairs near the couch.

As Reilly sat up, Jillian woke up to see her looking confused and she immediately got up from the chair and rushed over to her.

"It's okay, Reilly." She said as she took a hold of one of Reilly's hands.

Doctor Gates had told them that Reilly would probably be confused when she first woke up because of how tired she'd been when they'd finally gotten her to lie down. Once they did though she'd fallen asleep almost immediately.

"How's Nick? How long have I been asleep?" She asked, continuing to look around the room for answers. "Where is everyone?"

"Nick is the same and it's almost eight at night Reilly. You've been asleep almost ten hours now; and everyone has left as visiting hours are over for them and they need to go to work tonight." Jillian soothed as she spoke to her.

"What?" She tried to think. "Ten hours?"

"Yes. You're okay, just a little disoriented. The nurse is getting another bed brought in her so I can stay with you. Bill and Sam will stay at Nick's tonight." Jillian replied. "Your friend Archie left some food and an envelope for you." She added indicating the rolling table next to the bed.

Reilly followed where Jillian was pointing and she saw the food bag and the large white envelope, but instead of reaching for either, she asked, "When can I see Nick?"

"Anytime you want. We've been here since about ten this morning and we've taken turns. Dr Gates has a new doctor helping him who's a heart/lung specialist, Dr. O'Malley and Dr. Gates has been in several times to check on you and keep us updated on Nick. I'll go get the nurse and let her know you're awake and want to see Nick."

"Thanks mom." Reilly said as Jillian smiled and left the room.

After Jillian left and Reilly could see that both Sam and Bill were dead to the world around them, she reached for the envelope.

_Reilly,_

_Hope you are taking care there. Archie called and I've sent the best doctor we could find to help care for Nick. He should be there when you wake up. (Yes I know you're sleeping!) He says if Nick can avoid any serious infections then he should be fine, but I'm keeping close tabs on everything for you. Don't worry; anything Nick needs he'll get._

_We're here for you too and we've been working on a few things here on our end. Come to find out, John Smith was not your basic criminal, but I'm guessing you are Arch already figured that out. The man is ex-military; dishonorable discharge from the army. Uncle Sam used him till he didn't need him anymore and when he failed his own psych exam he was put out to pasture so to speak. The man was once a one man wrecking crew for Uncle Sam._

_And it seems psych problems run in that family. The older sister, Jackie, you know all about, but the younger sister, Allyson, has had her own problems with the wrong side of the sane meter. Seems she was in love with John, her own half-brother and they were planning much more than just getting Nick for their sister._

_They wanted to help her, but in the end it seems they were finally giving up on her. John had called a couple of his former military buddies after they got to the cabin at Lake Mead. He was making plans to dispose of Nick and Jackie and get himself and Allyson out of the country. They were probably going to meet up with those buddies when you and your Scooby gang found them. You're probably the only reason that Nick is alive right now. You and your CSI buddies did a good job finding and containing them._

_Your Scooby gang will be receiving an accommodation for a job well done on this case from the governor himself. So try and smile and pretend you know nothing when the time comes. All of the above information is being secured for your records and remember my name if you have a boy. Word has reached me you're expecting twins, so I at least expect a nod in the name department._

_Take care and remember wherever you set up residence the state of Kansas thanks you and will forward your job credentials to your new boss. You can't use Kansas Federal Special Agent if you move as your title anymore; but Nevada Federal Special Agent has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Either way, I'll remain your contact here in DC and you have Archie on your side out there in Vegas._

_Reilly, I'm not going to get mushy here, but everyone here is grateful Nick was found and that you are okay. Don't forget all of your friends you aren't supposed to have here and keep in touch somehow. Archie will have your new paperwork for you next time you see him. Take care._

_Congratulations and Good Luck_

There was no signature, but Reilly hadn't expected one. It was just to tell her all the loose ends would be taken care of and no one would be reprimanded. That's all that mattered to her. Her 'Scooby Gang' was good to go. She smiled; she kind of liked that name.

She smiled as she refolded the letter and stuck it in her pocket to dispose of later just as Jillian came back into the room with Hillary following closely behind her.


	50. Chapter 50

08/31/2005 Wednesday 8:00PM-10:00PM

Chapter Fifty

Reilly and Hillary stood alone in the room as Reilly looked over the paper that Hillary had handed her. She read it over twice to be sure she was reading it correctly.

She turned to Hillary as she handed her the report back. "Are you sure this is how you want to handle this?" Reilly asked the other woman.

She would respect whatever decision Hillary made, but she didn't like what the impact of that decision would do to everyone involved. She understood the circumstances though and was willing to give the woman her help for the time being.

"Yes." Hillary paused as she took the paper back and folded it putting it back in the pocket of her slacks. "Since Kevin's latest CAT scan shows the tumor in invasive, the odds of this surgery helping are about fifty-fifty and I think he needs to know this so he will keep fighting. I can't let him give up, not now." She looked Reilly in the eye. "I didn't want to tell him until I let you know, for Nick's sake too. I want Kevin to know he is having a son in case… well, just in case."

"And what about later on… after… down the line?" Reilly asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'll handle that when later happens, right now I'm not even going to think about the possibility of a future without Kevin. I can't do that anymore than you can think of being without Nick."

Reilly knew she was right about that. That was basically the only reason she was listening to Hillary right now; because she couldn't think about losing Nick and him discovering… she shook her head to get that thought out of her mind.

"Alright. I'll tell Nick when he wakes up that you and Kevin are having a boy and you want us to be his Godparents."

"Thank you Reilly." Hillary smiled at her as she stepped over to hug the other woman. "I have to go now. Kevin is going into surgery first thing in the morning. The doctor moved it up so I had my doctor rush these results on the paternity test. I wanted to tell him before surgery."

"Okay. Take care and call me if you need anything." Reilly said as she watched Hillary leave the room and head for the elevator.

_God, when did things get so complicated, she thought. And when did I get so tired? This is all getting to be a little bit more than I want to handle._

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_He was dying and he knew it. He could feel it. Nick knew without a doubt that he was dying; but something was nagging at him. It was at the back of his mind. Something… something was telling him he needed to fight. To keep fighting. He knew he was dying, yet something was keeping him here._

_He hurt… he hurt everywhere and he could feel it so intensely. But somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind he could hear something… someone talking to him. He knew that voice… from… where? Was he trapped in… a memory?_

_He tried to open his eyes to search for the voice, but his eyelids refused to move… but he needed to find that voice… he was dying… wasn't he?_

_"I love you Nick Stokes. Always." Nick could hear the voice saying. Someone loved him… his mother maybe?... no this voice was… more intimate; more personal… this was… _

_"Listen to me science guy, you need to help me… you're gonna be a dad… come back to me… Nick…." This was Reilly… Nick knew the voice was Reilly. God, he couldn't die, not now. Reilly needed him… but he hurt so bad and the darkness was so calming…_

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reilly leaned over Nick's bedside and kissed his cheek again as she had done earlier. She whispered in his ear, "I love you Nick Stokes. Always." She watched for any reaction from Nick but saw nothing. "Listen to me science guy you need to help me here. You're gonna be a dad Nick and I need you to come back to me. Nick please."

She reached down and squeezed his hand in hopes of a sign from him, but she was disappointed when he just laid so still letting the machines breath for him. Letting the machines keep him tethered to this world. The room was quiet save for the sounds of the machines.

Reilly felt the burn of the tears in her eyes as she reached down to brush some of Nick's hair back from his forehead and she felt the fever from the low grade infection burning his skin. The doctors had hoped he wouldn't develop an infection, but he had. At least it was a low grade fever and they felt that as long as they kept him on the antibiotic treatment for the next twenty-four hours, that he would be fine; when he woke up. If…he woke up. They felt there was a possibility that he could remain in a coma.

What he needed to do was wake up and everything would be fine. Reilly kept touching him because as long as she could feel him, she knew he was still with her. She needed to think that anyway. She pulled up a chair and sat next to his bedside. This may be the ICU department and she wasn't supposed to be in here more than a few minutes at a time, but she decided right then and there that she was not moving until Nick opened his eyes. Come hell or high water, she was going to wait the man out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jillian Stokes came looking for Reilly when she didn't come back to the room after seeing Nick. She found her snuggled in the large hospital bed next to Nick as close to him as possible without disturbing his many tubes and wires. And she was asleep.

Jillian couldn't help but feel tears at the sight of her baby boy finally with someone to watch over him. She had always hoped her Nicky would find someone, but has time had went on and with Nick's career being so important to him, she had begun to think he never would.

She thought it was funny that while Nick had been busy concentrating on his career, life had had other plans for him. God had brought Reilly to her son and Jillian thanked Him for that. They may have had a rocky start and it may have been messy here and there, but that was the way life was.

Life was messy, confusing and at times outrageous. It was unplanned, unpredictable and unexpected. Nick had been given a career and now a family and Jillian just wanted God to let him come back so he could enjoy that life. He needed to know that life was worth living even when there were crazy evil people out there trying to mess it up.

Jillian continued to watch Reilly sleeping as the nurse on duty walked around Nick's bed checking and recording his vitals. When she noticed Jillian watching outside the room through the observation window, she completed her task and walked out to her.

"Is she okay in there with him?" Jillian asked the nurse.

"She's fine. As you know, normally this wouldn't be allowed, but I'm not saying anything if you don't." The nurse, Jenna from her nametag, spoke gently. "Besides, I think they both need each other right now, don't you?"

Jillian smiled at her. "Yes, I think they do." _Yes, they really did need each other right now._

"You can still go in for a few minutes every hour. Unless there's a change in his condition, Nick needs to feel he has all of his friends and family pulling for him." Jenna paused watching her patient. "His fever has dropped in the last hour and his lungs are remaining clear of the infection, so hopefully he'll wake up soon. And with Reilly there, I think he needs to wake up to her."

"Yes." Jillian agreed. "He does."


	51. Chapter 51

09/01/2005 Thursday morning 8:30AM-10:00AM

Chapter Fifty-One

Sam stood outside Nick's room looking in from her spot at the window and watching her mother as she lay next to Nick. Catherine, Sara and Greg had come straight from their shift to check on Nick and were surprised to see that Reilly had been allowed to remain in the room with Nick. Jillian and Bill were visiting with Brass and Grissom and Warrick had stopped at home to check in with his wife Tina before coming in to see Nick.

Soon the rest of Nick's family would be here and they were all hoping for some good news. The doctors had been excited when early that morning they could see that Nick, while still running a slight fever, he was breathing much better. They had removed the tube from his throat taking him off the ventilator and they hoped to be able to move him to a private room by tomorrow. They all just needed Nick to wake up.

Sam felt the tears in her eyes building as she shifted her gaze from the couple in the room to Catherine and Sara who had joined her. "Do you…do you think Nick knows mom's there with him?"

Catherine took Sam in her arms and hugged her as if she were her own daughter. "I know he does."

Sam returned Catherine's hug and after pulling back to wipe the tears from her eyes, she said, "I just… I mean… I just want him to come back… for my mom… she needs someone who won't leave her… she needs Nick."

"Yes and Nick needs her." Sara agreed. "He will wake up."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nick hadn't woken up. The doctors said his infection was being beaten, his fever was way down and he was now breathing on his own. But he hadn't woken up.

Reilly had gotten up to go to the bathroom and now she was getting back in the bed with Nick determined to remain by his side till he woke up and saw her there.

As she crawled back in the bed careful of his IV lines, Nick slurred, "You have always been a bed hog, woman."

Reilly almost fell out of the bed at the sound of his voice. Nick's eyes were still closed and if she didn't know better, she would have sworn she'd imagined his talking to her. But then he slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. His eyes were a little glassy and his eyelids droopy, but it was Nick. All Nick.

Reilly felt the tears in her eyes welling up as she looked back at him. "It's about time you woke up. I have been waiting for you to get your lazy butt up. Do you know how much trouble you are in mister? You have a lot of explaining…to do." She had tried to make it all the way through her speech before she broke down, but she didn't quite succeed.

Nick slowly smiled and reached out to gently kiss her lips. "I just wanted to enjoy my woman in my bed for as long as possible. And my baby – babies? Did I dream it or did you tell me we're having twins?" He asked, slightly confused. He remembered bit and pieces and really hoped this was true. He remembered her saying one boy and one girl.

"You remember that?" Reilly asked as she reached up and stroked his cheek. "Do you remember anything else?"

"I remember a lot of things. Like I seem to remember that you, always trying to be in control of things, begged me to marry you." He smiled again as his eyelids started to droop.

"Well, you must have brain damage bud, 'cause I would never beg you for anything. I _am _in control here, science guy, so for the record, I didn't beg…I ordered you to marry me." She said as the tears started to fall.

Nick gently reached up and wiped the tears with his one hand. "I can't remember for sure, but I hope I said yes."

Reilly laughed as she gently moved in closer to him. "You betcha, Mr. Texas-"

"Gotta man up." He finished for her. He kissed her again. "Okay…so I'm just gonna take a little nap before we head down to the Little White Chapel for a quick marriage ceremony if that's okay with you, soon-to-be Mrs. Texas Gotta man up." He leaned his forehead against hers as he felt her tears still falling. Suddenly he pulled back from her his eyes flying open. "I just realized something else."

"What?" She asked panicking.

"I've got to repaint the nursery, don't i?" He said, smiling at her.

She laughed. "Yeah, you do, but I think everyone is planning on helping as sort of an apology." She said slyly.

"Apology? For what?" He asked getting worried.

"Well, they have all decided that they are not going to let you out of the lab ever again." She said still laughing. "I mean, I can understand; you seem to attract the most fun cases. But then I have my share too, I guess." She added softly.

"Bring it." Nick said kissing her again. "God help me, Reilly Mallone, but I love you."

"Ditto Nicholas Stokes. Ditto."

The End?

AN: I want to thank everyone who provided reviews; they were all great and encouraging. I really had fun with this story and look forward to writing a new one soon! Please do me one more favor and review this last chapter and the book as a whole and let me know what you think. Thank you to all again!


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